Posted by Richard
on 12/21/2011, 4:20 pm, in reply to "Re: People Know"
108.201.116.237
When I go "caught" it was no big deal, since both my parents smoked. I got the standard lecture, but that was it. I don't consider smoking cigarettes a vice, this has all been ginned up in the last 15 years. Like we are hopless addicts attached to our nicotine delivery systems. If I didn't enjoy it I would quit. I have been pushed from being able to smoke at work to having to have an air cleaner at my desk to outside to 20 ft. from the dooway, behind the yellow line. It is almost time for all smokers to take a cue from other groups and not report to work for a week. Let us have a smokers pride parade. I never thought I would live to see the day that it is being pushed for pot machines and removing cigarette machines. This country was founded on tobacco, and the proceeds therefrom won wars. I can't do any thing about the gagging perfume. This whole country has grown so intolerent, fat people you are causing peoples health insurance to go up, smokers the same. For crying out loud I wish it was 35 years ago. By the way my daughter graduated top of her class and she smoked all through high school. I always told my children if they wanted to try smoking to come to me. I have 2 that smoke and 2 that do not. I know the lectures and melodramatics are useless. We have to be comfortable with who we are. I am defined as Richard a kind human being Not Dick the smoker. I wouldn't say hey Gloria the fat woman. We need to go back to the days of polite tolerance!--Previous Message--
: I get what you're saying; my own perception is
: probably skewed because my entire family
: seemed to equate being a smoker with being a
: rapist or child molester. When my parents
: first caught me smoking, the results
: were...uh, well, the word
: "operatic" comes to mind. There
: was yelling, crying, pleading. Stuff that
: might be said in a melodramatic Saturday
: Night Live sketch. "WHY? Just tell me
: why? Why do you want to destroy
: yourself??" I could go on, but that
: should give you an idea.
:
: Maybe as a result of that, I tend to see
: smoking as a vice, albeit one that I am
: unapologetic about. People have asked me
: about the risks; I tell them the risks seem
: to be a fair trade for all the pleasure I
: get from smoking. A friend told me that as
: well as he knew me, he was surprised that
: I'd submit to the control of addiction. I
: told him that from my perspective it's
: almost the exact opposite scenario; a pack
: in my pocket means pleasure and relaxation
: pretty much whenever I want it.
:
: In the end, I also see smoking as a free
: choice and agree with you wholeheartedly
: that my life is MINE, and so is the decision
: to smoke. Vice or not, I am a smoker and
: other people will have to live with that
: fact. Or not. Regardless, what I've chosen
: for me is not going to change.
:
: Perhaps some of the closeted folks on this
: board will eventually come around to that
: viewpoint as well.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Perfect? I just plain don't see anyone in a
: negative light because they smoke. Neither
: do 99% of people. You have a few zany anti
: smokers who cough and gag 300 feet away from
: someone smoking a cigarette, but like the
: Russian lady on Seinfelf I would say come
: over here I will puy iy ouy in your eye!
: There is nothing imperfect about being a
: smoker. If someone dosen't like it tough.
: We all have the free choice to live our
: lives as we please.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Maybe it's because I'm not normally around
: gluttonous fat Baptists �� but
: I
: don't hear much religious commentary on
: smoking. I know that it exists of course;
: evangelicals seem particularly strongly
: opposed to smoking. For those with that
: problem however, I'd suggest Roman
: Catholicism. I was raised Catholic, and you
: can dance, drink, gamble, eat, and smoke all
: you like and still be a good Catholic. Birth
: control is also acceptable on a
: technicality; just don't have an abortion
: and you're good to go. ��
:
: Seriously though, when people are closeted
: and scared to come out, the real reason is
: all in their own heads. It's not really
: about what others will think; it's what they
: imagine others will think, and their fear
: that they won't be liked by everyone--which
: will of course be true whether they smoke or
: not.
:
: Closet smokers' primary affliction is the
: irrational need to be seen as perfect--and
: often not merely perfect, but superior to
: everyone else, when of course they are not
: because no one really is. They even cringe
: at the thought that people who like and love
: them will think something like "Jane is
: so nice--it's just a shame that she
: smokes." Which is hard to argue against
: because some people will think or say
: things like that--though if the person is
: really liked, it'll be said with love rather
: than judgment (which I'd argue is misguided
: even then). Because in the end everyone is
: imperfect--most of us very much so. There
: will always be that something that people
: can mention as "a
: shame"--"it's just a shame she's
: overweight/doesn't exercise/worries so
: much/has such a temper/is obsessed with
: cleaning/etc."
:
: What closet smokers have to get over is the
: idea that they can be perfect, or ever even
: be seen as perfect--because the truth is,
: the harder they try to exert control over
: other people's perceptions of them, the more
: THAT flaw comes to define (and damage) their
: lives. How many closet smokers, in an
: attempt to appear to be a
: "perfect" nonsmoker, end up
: seeming to be cold, judgmental, emotionally
: uninvolved, distant, distracted, unreliable,
: or worse??
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: We have a few people in our family, who
: think
: we don't know they smoke. We are just too
: polite to say anything. I've been an open
: smoker since I was 14. If any so-called
: anti smoker says any thing to me, I give
: them a flip answer like would like to pay
: more taxes, or I am dying young to save
: Social Security. Get a backbone. Only you
: can control how you feel about yourself.
: Tell Bible people that Spuregon smoked
: cigars, John Newton writer of Amazing Grace
: smoked his whole life. I am a Christian and
: I know the legalism of some churches. Ask,
: where in the Bible it says you shall not
: smoke? Besides its usually some gluttones
: fat Baptist telling you that crap.
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