'It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep and never to refrain when awake'
Mark Twain - and i'm not trying to be flippant, i just thought it was funny. :)
At the risk of sounding un-politically correct, which you all know i am loath to do, i have to say that i find smoking very, very, attractive. I know, i know, i'm well aware of the health issues and the dangers associated with it, i am an educated member of the public sphere, believe me i know. But at the same time i find this dereliction of smokers tedious, yes it's bad for you, yes it's poisonous, but so are many other things in society that are just as bad if not worse. Freedom of choice is so admired in situations except smoking, suddenly it becomes this selfish, anachronistic thing to be smoking.
The way i see it people ought to exercise a little mature understanding. If you are a smoker, or if you have no problem with it, fine, but if you have a problem with smoking then make it known and smokers will do the considerate thing by you and desist (if they are, as i hope them to be, accommodating kind people). Acceptance is the key i think, and though your personal opinions may differ be safe in the knowledge that it is they, and not you who are smoking. And, if you feel very very strongly about it then talk to them about it. I would never smoke around a person who has expressly asked me not to. Consideration and Accomodation walk hand in hand.
Edit: like i said in the comments box, perhaps it is because i am not a heavy smoker, or perhaps because i am well-aware of the health-risks and also a little ashamed that i still smoke despite knowing them, i am more modest in my smoking. I agree that there is nothing more disgusting than a group of people striding past you on the street flicking ash every which way and leaving a cloud of smoke behind them. Smokers can, i think, forget that their habit is harmful not only to them but to others. I try not to smoke in public and when i do it is never around those who do not smoke. I am like Kate Winslet in some respects, she is a smoker too, she has been one for some time, but she is very modest in her habit and smokes with humility. She, like me, is aware of the health problems, still smokes, but is a little ashamed that she does it. But then the enjoyment that she gets from them outweighs her shame in some respects.
My mother's main argument in her anti-smoking diatribe arsenal is that i'm only doing it to fit in with the fashion industry and as part of some deluded sense of grandeur. Both of these ideas are wrong, what my mother can't understand nor comprehend, although i don't think she really wants to, is that most of the time i really enjoy it. There are negative after effects that i hate, like the lingering smell hours and hours after. But in the heat of the moment, pun intended, with smoke waves wafting through the air around you, shrouding you in old-school mystery, you can't deny the instant glamour effect. Beside all that image stuff though i get a thrill out of it. I know, very very very un-PC. But there it is. It excites me, and not in a rebellious, i'm breaking rules, i'm being different way. It just... well... makes me happy. It calms me down, clears my head, and gives me a little buzz. And i do very little else in my life wrong, so why can't i have this one little thing?
Ah it's like preaching to a stone, she's never going to understand me. I can see the issues she has about health, but she won't understand the issues i have about pure, unadulterated, base enjoyment. We are at an impasse that we reach every 4 months or so and that we never quite hurdle. And so i turn to a place where i can air these thoughts and concerns without being completely attacked and in a calm and rational way.
I am interested to hear your thoughts, saturated as we are with social and fashion editorial of smoking...
jak and jil
We all know Lara smokes... a lot. And yet we love her anyway (or most of us do). Why can't it be like that in real life?
X
Edit: My main point in this post was not about the glamour of smoking, perhaps i didn't express myself as clearly as i should have. I said that i think smoking can be this fashionable thing, but that is not the reason why i do it. It is the gross misconception of my mother that the only reason i smoke is because i think it is fashionable. I know i sound un PC when i write this, but i do get enjoyment out of it. Smoking is very very bad for you, of that i am very well-assured. But at the same time i get enjoyment out of it. It's that catch-22 that i am never quite sure how to approach. And to add insult to injury i am aware, ashamed even, of the negative health effects. Which should be sacrificed, my one vice, or my health?
You have read this article me /
models
with the title where there's smoke there's fire.... You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/05/where-there-smoke-there-fire.html. Thanks!
