The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Friday, June 12, 2009

Smokin'

Well, it appears that additional steps are being taken, legislatively, to curb smoking. I suspect that this will have the usual unintended consequences. What I also suspect is that the government, always looking out for you, will lower the nicotine content via regulation. This will result in an increase in tobacco consumption and, therefore, revenue to the government.

But that's just the cynic in me talking.

I used to smoke. Back when I was young. I started smoking when I was 12, emulating my idiot older brother. Within a very short time, I was smoking a pack a day. I never went above that, on average, that whole period in my life when I smoked.

Why did I smoke? The rebel image, I suppose, was the primary reason. Wanting to be cool or, at least, look that way. Actually, nothing is less cool looking than a skinny little kid with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

When you are young, and reasonably healthy, you can easily mask the short term effects of smoking. I had plenty of lung power and stamina. I was not easily winded. I was very active, ran a lot (well, it was mostly from the police but...), and stayed in shape just by being an active teen. Could I have been healthier if I hadn't smoked? Debatable. We cannot know what might have been.

I started thinking about quitting when I was 15. Not because I felt it was doing me a lot of harm but because I did not like being less than in maximum control of my life. Yeah, I was fooling myself that I had much control over my life at that age but that's a teenager for you.

I had long philosophical discussions with The Cigarette. Yes, I talked to inanimate objects then. Still do. Most of my best debates are with inanimate objects.. They don't interrupt, they don't get insulted or angry, and they hardly ever make a valid point.

Except, as often as I would win those debates with The Cigarette, I would still continue smoking. I might win the battles but I was definitely not winning the war. After awhile, I gave up giving up. By 18, I wasn't even pretending to try anymore. The best I could do was maintain the level at a pack a day.

I'd like to say I was a polite smoker but that isn't true. There is no such thing. Oh sure, as a smoker, I thought I was polite and courteous around non-smokers. I thought I was considerate. I was fooling myself. All smokers do. The polite ones were the non-smokers.

Even as I asked if anyone minded if I smoked, I was usually just about to light up or already had. I always assumed I would be granted permission. Because I almost always was. I relied on their acquiescence, on their tendency to be polite.

The dirty little secret is that all smokers do.

It was only when the smoker runs into a born again non-smoker, the former smoker, does he get refused that permission.

If I may digress a moment (and I may... since it is my blog), I recall one incident where a salesman was at my house trying to sell me and my then wife (The Ex) on an addition, a back porch. Everything was going fine, we had wanted a back porch, we could afford it, and we should have been an easy sell. Then he lit up a cigarette. He didn't ask, he didn't think about it, he just lit it up.

It was only when he had a fair sized ash on that cigarette that he realized that he might have committed a faux pas. As he looked about for an ash tray, it dawned on him that there were none to be found. Even though my wife smoked, she did not smoke in the house. She only smoked at work and in her car. Once she arrived home, no tobacco. So there were no ash trays. He looked almost sheepish when he asked for one and was told "we don't smoke in this house." And he went to the front door and dropped the ash and his cigarette outside.

Along with his sale.

I rarely enjoyed smoking, only the ones after a meal, the one after sex (if I didn't fall asleep right away), and the one after a big scare. Smoking was mostly about staving off boredom.

I tried to quit smoking just before leaving the Navy. I had a financial incentive. Cigarettes were cheap in the service. Especially out at sea; ten cents a pack (twenty in port). Potato chips were more expensive. But all of a sudden, it would be thirty five cents a pack (hey, we're talking 1969 here). And I am a cheapskate.

I did pretty good for a few months limiting myself to just smoking on the weekends. Then I was about to get married. In the month before that date, I went back to a pack a day. It took me some time to get back to my weekend routine.

I was just fooling myself. I was pretending that I was in control. And then came the night my son was born. That was the night I smoked my last cigarette.

That was almost 39 years ago. And way down deep, back in the ugliest recesses of my mind, the twinge of an urge still lingers.

[1272/1273/1142]

10 comments:

HektikLyfe said...

Great read but I would like to get back to the point you were making in the beginning about the government getting involved.

What do you think would be a good alternative?

There's always banning...but that doesn't work. To me it makes sense I mean the stuff kills you and the people around you when you do it.

But I know people won't have that. I think they're stepping in the right direction. Slowly removing the addictive ingredients. It won't work right away but eventually, maybe a few generations later, when they finally completely remove all the drugs people will see it for the disgusting habit it is.

P.S. I don't deal well with door to door salesmen. I usually piss them off to the point where they start insulting me. :)

Douglas said...

Hektik - I am not sure we need an alternative. Is tobacco use increasing or decreasing? Do we believe in freedom of choice (even if that choice is self-destructive)? Slowly weening does not really work in most cases (ask any recovering addict or alcoholic) so the reduction of nicotine will likely result in an increase in tobacco consumption. Finally, people must want to quit at a deep level in order to quit. Sans that deepseated desire, nothing will make them quit. Trust me. Been there, done that.

Steven said...

remove the government involvement and let darwin sort 'em out.

/ $0.02

yolanda said...

hmm, ive very recently taken up smoking again after giving up for 5 years (by 'giving up' i mean 'only smoking when i have a drink'.) now im a full time smoker again. the leap back was totally unprecipitated, but im quite enjoying knowing that im having a break when im taking a break! i also get quite inspired those during smoke breaks - answers to questions just seem to pop into my head. maybe its the drug, the space from the work, or just the breathing deeply, who knows? wither way, im (guiltily) enjoying the smoke ;)

yolanda

HektikLyfe said...

Freedom of choice is irrelevant when that choice affects others. Same with freedom of speech. There are always limitations.

The weening isn't for the addicted individuals but for the generations that follow. The older generation dies off from lung cancer and the following generations START smoking with less Nicotine in it until it is all gone.

Generations later.

The problem I see is that people KNOW it kills you and the people around you and its not always a case where they are so addicted they can't stop. Now that this knowledge is publicly accepted, they don't start smoking without already KNOWING it kills you.

I find that odd.

Douglas said...

Yolanda - Trust me, I understand completely. I would like you to not smoke, to know that you can have those same feelings, get that same peace, without it. But you are in charge of yourself and you make those decisions. Don't feel guilty about it.

Douglas said...

Hektik - We should have dialogue about this... Freedom of choice should be curtailed when it affects others... I see, how about making abortion illegal then? That definitely affects others.

Nicotine does not cause any real, or long term, physical harm. The carcinogens are a part of the other chemicals in tobacco smoke. The tar clings to the linings of lungs and shuts them down but even that is easily overcome by the lung's ability to regenerate once the person stops smoking.

While nicotine is quite addicting, it's an addiction that's easily broken. In three days, your body is completely cleansed of it. Know what the real habit is all about? It's about the social habituation, it's about the "triggers" that makes a person light up, it's about the infusing of the ritual of smoking into one's life.

I have studied this in some depth in my efforts to quit and I learned quite a bit about addictions and habits and human nature. I had to decide, in my soul (for want of another word) to quit before I was successful.

I suggested you talk to a recovering alcoholic about addiction, I'd like to repeat that. And ask him (or her) about the idea of reducing the alcohol content and see if that would help prevent new alcoholics.

Finally, people have always knowsn smoking was bad for your health. Go to this site:

http://www.tobacco.org/History/Smoke_Cigarette.html

And look up the term "coffin nails"

People jump out of planes, go to war, firemen run into fires, cops head for the shooting, we take dares, and we admire those who do.

I have done many things that were bad for me, I am sure you have also.

Douglas said...

Hektik - We should have dialogue about this... Freedom of choice should be curtailed when it affects others... I see, how about making abortion illegal then? That definitely affects others.

Nicotine does not cause any real, or long term, physical harm. The carcinogens are a part of the other chemicals in tobacco smoke. The tar clings to the linings of lungs and shuts them down but even that is easily overcome by the lung's ability to regenerate once the person stops smoking.

While nicotine is quite addicting, it's an addiction that's easily broken. In three days, your body is completely cleansed of it. Know what the real habit is all about? It's about the social habituation, it's about the "triggers" that makes a person light up, it's about the infusing of the ritual of smoking into one's life.

I have studied this in some depth in my efforts to quit and I learned quite a bit about addictions and habits and human nature. I had to decide, in my soul (for want of another word) to quit before I was successful.

I suggested you talk to a recovering alcoholic about addiction, I'd like to repeat that. And ask him (or her) about the idea of reducing the alcohol content and see if that would help prevent new alcoholics.

Finally, people have always knowsn smoking was bad for your health. Go to this site:

http://www.tobacco.org/History/Smoke_Cigarette.html

And look up the term "coffin nails"

People jump out of planes, go to war, firemen run into fires, cops head for the shooting, we take dares, and we admire those who do.

I have done many things that were bad for me, I am sure you have also.

Douglas said...

Hektik - I am not sure we need an alternative. Is tobacco use increasing or decreasing? Do we believe in freedom of choice (even if that choice is self-destructive)? Slowly weening does not really work in most cases (ask any recovering addict or alcoholic) so the reduction of nicotine will likely result in an increase in tobacco consumption. Finally, people must want to quit at a deep level in order to quit. Sans that deepseated desire, nothing will make them quit. Trust me. Been there, done that.

Steven said...

remove the government involvement and let darwin sort 'em out.

/ $0.02