What’s all the fuss about smoking?

Before you go off telling me to mind my own business, let me make some things clear. Smoking is a personal decision, and you have a right to do whatever you want. I mean, it’s your body, after all. But it is also my business, because when you exhale, I breathe in that polluted air. For someone who doesn’t smoke, it is hard to understand what the fuss about smoking is. However, it is only a smoker who can understand why cigarette manufacturing companies are among the richest, despite all the dangers associated with smoking. People have formed extremely-hard-to-break attachments to that little stick of dried tobacco leaves. It doesn’t matter how you started smoking (peer pressure, extreme boredom, search for adventure, by accident, or you were born with a cigarette in your mouth…), the fact is, you are a smoker, contributing to the rapid destruction of the Ozone layer, your lungs and other peoples lungs as well. Some people actually believe that smoking increases your chances of looking cool by 15 percent. My question is; does your woman mind? The first answer that comes to one’s mind is that it’s none of her business. It actually is. Passive smokers are at a higher risk of suffering from smoking-related complications than the actual smokers. Whether your lady approves or is indifferent or downright hates the fact that you smoke depends on the kind of person she is. A girl who doesn’t smoke will most likely not want you to smoke. It fits well in her plans of “trying to change my man and make him a better man”. If she can get you to stop smoking then, she will count it as a major victory in the struggle to make you a better man. Don’t loathe her for not understanding why you need to breathe hot tar-filled smoke into your lungs regularly. She is simply being a woman, and of course she doesn’t understand how addicted you are, and how many times you have told yourself you are going to quit smoking, and have failed! Whatever you smoke; pipes, cigarettes, grass, cigars, etc, that is really your business. However, it becomes other people’s business when you do it in a way that inconveniences them; like smoking in public, in closed rooms, falling sick and having to be treated with expensive TB drugs. Be a gentleman about it. If you must, take a smoke break if you need to puff. Use mint or mouthwash to freshen your breath. Don’t buy those cheap foul-smelling cigarettes that aren’t properly processed. And whatever you do, do not smoke the filter! I repeat, do not smoke the cigarette filter!shemmugisha@gmail.com