WEGO NHBPM - Day 12 - Smoking is NOT a right.

Today’s Topic - Call BS on something. What’s something that is just ridiculous?

That smoking is a right that deserves legal protection. That is BS.

Everyone has a right be who they are. Everyone has a right to access safe and affordable health care. Everyone has a right to practice their religion, vote for the candidates they choose, marry who they love, live in a safe place, get an education.

But I call BS on that fact that people think smoking should be considered a right.

No one has a “right” to make themselves and those around them sick. No one has a “right” to become a burden on the health care system. No one has a “right” to die a slow, agonizing death. No one has a “right” to ruin people’s meals, make others cough, drive people away from a table or a chair or a bench or other public space.

No one has a “right” to make the parking deck impassable and finding a seat in an outdoor café impossible. No one has a “right” to take break after break throughout the workday while everyone else stays on task. No one has a “right” to give their children cancer.

There is no reason to smoke. None. If you want a high, dance, run, bike, hike, kayak, exercise. Fill your lungs with air, move across the floor, run down the sidewalk, glide across the water, reach and stretch and spin and paddle and play. If you want to feel relaxed, meditate. Forget about what’s burdening you, clear your mind, steady your heart rate. If you want a break, go on an adventure. Slip out of the world and into discovery and enjoy a break that doesn’t kill or cost.

It may not be illegal. But that does not make it a right. It’s a burden to everyone, the smoker and non-smoker alike and there’s no excuse for partaking. If someone, somehow feels they simply must smoke, they must insure that NO ONE else is affected in any way from the smell to the second hand smoke. They must not look to health insurance to pay for the results. They must work longer hours to make up for their breaks. When it comes to others, they must make it as if they aren’t smoking at all.

Smoking is not a right. Breathing clear air, however, is. It’s an inalienable right, and its a right that demands protection. No BS.