I have come to realize that in today’s society there are many aspects of life that dissatisfy me. Being brought up in the south, I have had “hands on” experience with farmers growing some of the ingredients in cigarettes. Many times these farmers choose to smoke the tobacco that they grow. I despise cigarette smoking because it is a very disgusting habit, affects other people’s health, and is against my rights as a nonsmoker. Cigarette smoking is an absolutely disgusting habit. In my opinion, it shows poor taste on another person’s part to choose to smoke cigarettes in public.
For example, I was at a restaurant in Panama City Beach, Florida and had a very bad experience with cigarettes. There was a very long wait to be seated at the restaurant, and I was forced to endure the wait outside. Almost all of the customers that were standing outside were smoking cigarettes. It absolutely infuriated me to have to wait outside with my baby cousin, who suffers from asthma, until it was time for us to be seated. I could not even sit comfortably on the benches because there were cigarette butts and ashes everywhere.
I also find it to be most offensive for my waitress or waiter to be a smoker and go outside for a “smoker’s break” and then return inside the restaurant and serve my food. Cigarette smoking also turns your teeth and nails an ugly color yellow. I find it not only gross for men, but for women is even worse, because it is not “ladylike. ” These types of behavior tend to send me into orbit. Another reason why I am against cigarette smoking is because of the adverse affects on the non-smoker’s health.
I do not think it is very fair for individuals, like me, that choose to maintain a healthy lifestyle by avoiding harmful substances such as cigarettes and have other people force their bad lifestyle behaviors on non-smokers. Scientists have found that second-hand smoke can be just as harmful to non-smokers. I already have health problems including Heart disease, POTS (Postural Orthostatic Hypotension Tachycardia Syndrome), and Ehlers Danlos, and second-hand smoke not only makes these disease processes worse but also attributes to my having headaches.
Not only does cigarette smoking frustrate me because of how disgusting and nasty it is, affects my health and those around me, but most of all it infuriates me knowing that the act of smoking cigarettes publicly is against my rights as a non-smoker. I often feel like my rights to breathe clean air are being taken from me. It drives me crazy to be in the vicinity of someone smoking and my hair and clothes begin to smell like the smoke.
I feel like it really does not matter what I say or do to a smoker, because it will not keep him or her from smoking cigarettes. Although there are many reasons that I take a strong stand against cigarette smoking; it does not look like there is anything that I am going to be able to do about it. I guess I should just be content with the fact that there are more agreements on public smoking than there once was, but as it stands now, I am pretty much dissatisfied that smokers are even allowed in public.