Smoking Vent

While staring into the "Baby On Board" minivan in front of me while I was stuck in traffic today, I saw the driver shamelessly smoking inside that enclosed space with that child and was reminded that I had been meaning to make a post about this on my blog. Please note, I have nothing against the *people* themselves...I know plenty of smokers who are good *people*...it's the behavior and how it seems to knock the sense right out of people that ticks me off.

As a child, I grew up in a house of two smokers. My mom thinks it's hysterical that I once, as a toddler, tried to eat cigarette butts that were left in the ashtray on the coffee table. I suppose there is at least a small excuse in that, when I grew up, people didn't know the dangers of smoking. Women smoked while pregnant (my mother did with 3 of her 4 children, and I was one of those fetal smokers). It was a different time.

Today, however, there is no excuse. There is abundant information that is easily accessible and sometimes, practically thrown in your face, about how unhealthy and unsafe it is to smoke. If, in spite of all of this information, you still want to smoke...so be it. But don't make me and, most especially, don't make children smoke because you feel like doing so. I'm so sick of seeing this. And not only do I see it, I experience it in my own family. I started avoiding many family gatherings when I was pregnant because of the smoking. Because none of these people were considerate enough to NOT smoke around me even though I have asthma, and were even less considerate while I was pregnant. It didn't matter how many times I asked nicely, they all did it. Now that Maggie is out in the world, I've become totally obsessed with keeping her smoke-free. And with good reason! Some have now chosen to quit in light of my father's heart attack last month, but there are a few who persist. (I will add that my father and mother BOTH were in the inconsiderate smoker category...thankfully, they are quitting because of dad's heart attack!)

Yesterday we went to my grandparents' cottage. It was the first time this year, even though when I was younger, we used to go up every weekend. I've stayed away because of the smoking. Anyway, my uncle (not by blood) was smoking near us at the picnic tables. The wind was blowing it right in our direction. I asked if he could please not smoke near us and was immediately given a tirade that began with "Gimme a break....we're outside!!" like that makes it okay to smoke near babies. I didn't feel like arguing so I packed Maggie up and brought her inside, saying, "That's fine...I'll move then." So he continues later on to complain to my father, asking, "What's her problem?" Number one, I'm nearly 28 years old...do we really have to tell on me at this age? Number two, I asked nicely...he was an ass about it so I took control of the situation and removed her from the exposure. Why be a baby about it (the man is in his 50s after all? It's done and over with now.

It's that inconsideration that pisses me off the most, though. The smokers who don't think about the fact that when they smoke around you, you are now involuntarily smoking, too. Being outside doesn't negate this effect....in fact, when the wind is blowing, it enhances it. I'm not trying to take away anybody else's freedoms...however, mine are being infringed upon when I am forced to inhale the smoke. Yet these smokers don't seem to care about that... It's always ME, ME, ME. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!