Scenario 1
Some countries have totally banned smoking indoors, and some countries have done it partially. So you might be free from smoke in some restaurants, malls, pubs and offices, in some countries. So did the smokers go? Try all the entrances, exits, and corridors. Getting in and out of these places almost feels like you’re in a horror movie trying to get through a bunch of monsters or zombies – stretching their claws at you – before you can get in to the safe territory. And don’t forget to hold your breath too.
Scenario 2
When you think you could have a stroll to the office in the morning, and get some fresh air, chances are, you might have to walk behind some smoker(s) enjoying their air-polluting morning ritual. What’s worse, they usually share at least half the journey with you, walk just fast enough so that you can’t overtake them and just slow enough to stay close to you.
Scenario 3
It’s never a nice thing queuing at the bus stop, whatever weather. But someone will have to come standing right next to you, constantly blowing smoke in your face. But if you ever reveal the slightest dislike, you would be accused of discriminating. So much for human rights, huh!
Scenario 4
You can ignore strangers who smoke, glare at them, or deliberately move away from them. Friends or associates who smoke are most intolerable. They want to, have to, need to smoke. You can’t choose not to sit next to them, because you will be deemed anti social, and INCONSIDERATE! After all, what are friends for? Perhaps we ought to cheerfully accept the free smoke they generously grant us. They won’t die if they don’t smoke, but we would if they do. So why don’t they have some mercy on their friend’s poor little respiratory system here?
Truth is
Legally, they have ‘the rights’ to smoke anywhere they like as long as there isn’t a ‘no smoking’ sign. But they do not have the rights to take the oxygen away from me. I do have the rights to the air I’m breathing, too. Don’t we all?
I get smokers telling me that all these rules are making them feel isolated and discriminated, and I have also seen some very ‘humane’ people wrote that “smokers are human too, please let them smoke indoor again” (in other words, get back in there and suffocate those who do not smoke because you bloody have the rights!). Look, no one forced them into it, nor are they born to be smokers. It is their choice. My fault eh?
Another question is: If they have ‘the rights’ to contaminate the air (a.k.a. an essential to stay alive) we breathe in, don’t we have the rights to at least decide not to like what they are doing to us? Do we have to give in and let them do so just because they are – biologically – human too? If that’s the case, we non-smokers are human too. But why can’t we have the rights to preserve our life support essential?
Global warming is already a huge enough problem we have to deal with, we certainly do not need these jokers to further destroy what we have left. And says who the amount of cigarettes being burnt each day has nothing to do with global warming? No wonder more and more people prefer to stay indoors nowadays.
Not allowing them to smoke indoor is definitely not a solution. Why can’t there be specially allocated smoking rooms? So these smokers can just go in there, look really ‘cool’ (oh yes they surely think so) and puff each other to heaven! I have absolutely no issue with that!
Do we have to put up with it and pretend that we love it? NO! If we have to be kind to their feelings, why can’t they have a thought about our suffering? We are not demanding them to give it up for us. All we ask is for them to be a little more considerate. And when it’s your friend who is doing that to you, it’s even more unforgivable. Believe me, smokers don’t care if you are the love of their life.
Holding our grudge and giving way to smokers intruding our daily lives are short-term solutions. How much longer can you bottle up and suffer? So stop being pretentious and start expressing your true feelings towards the issue. Because - we maybe be non-human but we bloody HAVE THE RIGHTS too!
And all smokers can stop being so generous – thanks, but no thanks. Really.
Some countries have totally banned smoking indoors, and some countries have done it partially. So you might be free from smoke in some restaurants, malls, pubs and offices, in some countries. So did the smokers go? Try all the entrances, exits, and corridors. Getting in and out of these places almost feels like you’re in a horror movie trying to get through a bunch of monsters or zombies – stretching their claws at you – before you can get in to the safe territory. And don’t forget to hold your breath too.
Scenario 2
When you think you could have a stroll to the office in the morning, and get some fresh air, chances are, you might have to walk behind some smoker(s) enjoying their air-polluting morning ritual. What’s worse, they usually share at least half the journey with you, walk just fast enough so that you can’t overtake them and just slow enough to stay close to you.
Scenario 3
It’s never a nice thing queuing at the bus stop, whatever weather. But someone will have to come standing right next to you, constantly blowing smoke in your face. But if you ever reveal the slightest dislike, you would be accused of discriminating. So much for human rights, huh!
Scenario 4
You can ignore strangers who smoke, glare at them, or deliberately move away from them. Friends or associates who smoke are most intolerable. They want to, have to, need to smoke. You can’t choose not to sit next to them, because you will be deemed anti social, and INCONSIDERATE! After all, what are friends for? Perhaps we ought to cheerfully accept the free smoke they generously grant us. They won’t die if they don’t smoke, but we would if they do. So why don’t they have some mercy on their friend’s poor little respiratory system here?
Truth is
Legally, they have ‘the rights’ to smoke anywhere they like as long as there isn’t a ‘no smoking’ sign. But they do not have the rights to take the oxygen away from me. I do have the rights to the air I’m breathing, too. Don’t we all?
I get smokers telling me that all these rules are making them feel isolated and discriminated, and I have also seen some very ‘humane’ people wrote that “smokers are human too, please let them smoke indoor again” (in other words, get back in there and suffocate those who do not smoke because you bloody have the rights!). Look, no one forced them into it, nor are they born to be smokers. It is their choice. My fault eh?
Another question is: If they have ‘the rights’ to contaminate the air (a.k.a. an essential to stay alive) we breathe in, don’t we have the rights to at least decide not to like what they are doing to us? Do we have to give in and let them do so just because they are – biologically – human too? If that’s the case, we non-smokers are human too. But why can’t we have the rights to preserve our life support essential?
Global warming is already a huge enough problem we have to deal with, we certainly do not need these jokers to further destroy what we have left. And says who the amount of cigarettes being burnt each day has nothing to do with global warming? No wonder more and more people prefer to stay indoors nowadays.
Not allowing them to smoke indoor is definitely not a solution. Why can’t there be specially allocated smoking rooms? So these smokers can just go in there, look really ‘cool’ (oh yes they surely think so) and puff each other to heaven! I have absolutely no issue with that!
Do we have to put up with it and pretend that we love it? NO! If we have to be kind to their feelings, why can’t they have a thought about our suffering? We are not demanding them to give it up for us. All we ask is for them to be a little more considerate. And when it’s your friend who is doing that to you, it’s even more unforgivable. Believe me, smokers don’t care if you are the love of their life.
Holding our grudge and giving way to smokers intruding our daily lives are short-term solutions. How much longer can you bottle up and suffer? So stop being pretentious and start expressing your true feelings towards the issue. Because - we maybe be non-human but we bloody HAVE THE RIGHTS too!
And all smokers can stop being so generous – thanks, but no thanks. Really.
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