"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." George Washington
Welcome to the Slaughterhouse, America!!
By Nicholas Meyeres
Just the other day, I saw a sight that I thought I would never see again in today’s world. I watched a woman stumble out of a small, compact and crowded car as a wave of cigarette smoke billowed out after her— chasing her like a rabid dingo scavenging for raw meat. But that wasn’t the part that shocked me. It was when she rounded the back of the car to open the passenger’s side door.
She reached in (with cigarette dangling from her mouth like a limp piece of pickled asparagus) and grabbed an infant girl in her arms. The smoke not only wafted into the innocent child’s face and nose and lungs without restraint, but the red hot poker at the tip of the woman’s lips came within a mere fraction of an inch of the baby’s brand new skin.
Barring for just one second how completely inappropriate and inconsiderate second hand smoke is to all of us non-smokers, and just how deadly it can almost always be; it is frankly appalling to me in this day and age (the age of mass and very public information) that smokers even still exist!... Let alone subject their children to their addictive, noxious, and basically venomous behavior.
After all, it is common knowledge that between 70% and 90% of non-smokers in the American population- children as well as adults- are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. It is estimated that only 15% of cigarette smoke actually gets inhaled by the smoker. The remaining 85% lingers in the air for EVERYONE to breathe. If a person spends more than two hours in a room where someone is smoking, the nonsmoker inhales the equivalent of four entire cigarettes.
Secondhand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of disability and early death (after active smoking and alcohol) in the United States. For every eight smokers who die from smoking, one innocent bystander dies from secondhand smoke. Couldn’t that be construed as grounds for manslaughter in the judicial system today? Why are smokers allowed to kill our children, and get away with it?
Unfortunately, this is all particularly disturbing since less than 20% of the entire population of the United States smokes. Yet, smokers get nearly all the protection under the law, excluding some restaurants and public facilities that have finally gotten smart and banned it from their premises entirely.
"But don’t smokers have rights?" "If we give the government the power to regulate smoking, what comes next?" "Will all of our rights as Americans be completely eroded if the smoker’s drug of choice is made illegal?" Smokers say these and many other things, and are as obnoxious as ever- especially now that we have a President that admits to smoking today. It's like they have carte blanche to engage in this behavior because our Barry does.
For the love of Pete, this is idiocy!
As the old comic book adage goes, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” But I say, “With true freedom, comes personal responsibility.” You must show restraint and consideration for those people around you especially when you engage in deadly and unwanted behaviors that effect the greater good of the majority of the people.
Therefore, we have to consistently rise to the occasion and be the best and most honorable individuals we can be as an entire people, especially for the sake and well-being of our children. They are what’s most important. They are who we must protect. After all, let’s call it for what it truly is: smoking is abuse.
Second hand smoke has been proven to be more harmful than regular smoking, after all. This is something that has been on the radio, tv and in the newspapers for years, yet people continue to smoke around their children and subject them to this "abuse".
Is this any less harmful than the lead that we find in toy products or on our walls or in our schools that we are told will kill us?
Every time a person breathes in second-hand smoke, over 100 harmful chemical agents - carcinogens and toxins are consumed. And in case you don't already know- some of these carcinogens include benzene, 1,3-butadiene, benzoapyrene, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone and many others. The bottom line is, things like asbestos are not allowed to be used in homes today, but smoking is still perfectly legal.
Some things I will sadly NEVER understand! But in the meantime, the next time a smoker lights up in front of you or your kids; take a swig from the Big Gulp you bought from 7-Eleven that morning, swish it around nice and slobbery in your mouth (especially if you have recently eaten and still have food between your teeth); then, rear back, hock it right in his face, and say, "Gosh! I hope you don't mind my second hand spit!" That'll teach 'em! ... Or it will get you into a nice, big fist fight. Either way, now you've got their attention.
