They are putting a no smoking ban on us here in MN. It was just voted on and passed last week. What it all entails is, no smoking in any restaurants or bars, public places, etc. I'm not sure exactly what they mean by public places. What doesn't make any sense to this new law is that we already have bans set for restaurants and bars since about four or five years ago. So this is nothing new. What do they mean they are starting a new ban when it's already in effect?
I agree, and told smoker friends, a long time ago, we need to stand up for our rights. All they kept saying was they knew it wasn't healthy for them to smoke anyway. So they wouldn't do anything to stop these bans. Now they are all complaining when they had the chance to do something back then. This was over ten years ago.
I could see what was coming, but, to be honest, I didn't expect it to go so overboard.
I also have told people to stop throwing their cigarette butts out their car window and on the ground. While I was the on-site resident manager of two complexes, I had to pick these up every day. I even had to clean up after people who emptied their car ashtrays onto the parking lots even though there was a huge garbage bin within a few feet.
I can tell you, I got very tired of it. I still am always telling my husband to use our ashtray in our car, but he keeps throwing his cigarette butts out the window while driving. When are we going to learn that they are extremely unattractive and start respecting our homes and areas?
I really believe this is one of the reasons we are getting hit so hard. As a smoker, it bothers me to see cigarette butts all over the streets. So I can imagine how it must affect non-smokers. Something else, I always leave the area, even in my home, if a non-smoker is present. And I always asked if it was all right if I smoked wherever I was unless it was posted to be ok to do so. It is just polite, and as a 62 year old woman, I learned this is the way to treat people as I like to be treated.
I can't count how many times I was told that they appreciated my considering their feelings about smoking around them, and that a lot of smokers never did.
What did we expect? We could just continue abusing others for our pleasure-that it would never come around and bite us? I know it's about non-smokers saying it's due to health reasons, but isn't it just possible, in the long run, that we brought this on ourselves by not caring how someone else feels?
This is something to be asking ourselves.  |