/ General
Smog
Picture this: a man is standing in the hallway of your office building while you wait for the elevator. He farts. A heavy cloud of noxious blue gas rises up enveloping the man in a thick haze. Startled, you step back a bit, to avoid the expanding blue cloud. He farts again. You retreat further but there's no escaping this cloud. He farts again. The man's odor has wafted throughout the hallway, you're smelling it, so you know you're breathing it in. Holding your breath is no longer an option. What do you do? Suck it up, suffer through it, and give the poor guy a break. He probably can't help himself.
Of course in the real world, anyone with such an afliction would probably be hospitalized. Smokers, on the other hand, are still lurking around office corridors and bathrooms churning out pollution like little pulp mills. Why do they not feel shame or embarrassment in fouling the rooms they inhabit. Has no one told them they smell like an ash tray from 50 feet away?
Sorry smokers. I'm growly again and taking it out on you. Probably means I'm still craving a smoke.
What prompted this post? First there was the idiot smoking in the elevator this morning, and of course I said nothing at the time. Instead, in cowardly fashion, I'm taking it out on you. A little later I read about a ban on indoor smoking coming to Shanghai, perhaps in time for the 2010 Expo. It's unclear from the article whether we're talking a proper ban, or just mandating areas set aside for non-smoking. I have had an on-going argument with Daniel about the correctness of anti-smoking laws. As much as I hate smoking, I don't accept that restaurant and bar owners should be required by law to protect the breathing space of non-smokers. If I owned a restaurant I'd expect to treat it as my private property. If the owner wants to permit smoking (or Russian Roulette) that's private business, and I'm free, as a non-smoker to avoid his establishment. But then, if it weren't for anti-smoking legislation around the world, I'd have to put up with that moron on the elevator every day, so I should probably be grateful.
Anyway, if you have any thoughts on this, or, as a smoker, care to take a stab at defending your habit, feel free in the comments below.
As always, thanks for reading.