Posted on 09/19/2002 7:15:48 AM PDT by SheLion
Tell me about it.
Interesting discussion.
I smoked longer than some people on this thread have been alive (32 years) and quit 13 years ago by tapering off over a week. I had some cravings for cigarettes - for about a week. They lessened considerably and left entirely after about six months. It was never a problem denying the mild cravings, anyway, as I would just say 'no' mentally and it was past.
I quit for a number of reasons, including my health (never had a problem or a cough and wasn't going to wait for it to start), my young son's worries about my smoking (his mom didn't smoke - just me) and the cost was annoying (and this was in 1989!). After quitting, food didn't taste any different except that sharp, intense flavors became a bit more noticable. Smell didn't change much either but I could detect cigarette smoke easier and more so now. (I hate it). I have to say that I never 'long' for a cigarette and haven't since late 1989. No loss.
I think it's mostly a mental game to quit successfully, as I did. If you truly wish to stop smoking and don't see it as a sacrifice but as a free choice (no one told me to quit and I didn't tell my family I was quitting until I did - a week later) you can do it because you want to stop smoking, not that you 'have' to stop. I didn't 'have' to but I decided to stop - on my own - with no one pushing me or even expecting me to quit. I just did.
Never regretted it BUT, I do have sympathy for smokers who are demonized and made to feel like outcasts over smoking a cigarette. The cost is obscene, too. I don't allow smoking in my home or cars but I have no problem with friends that smoke (a few do) and do so outside. They don't mind, either as I never lecture or say anything at all about smoking as it's their choice, not mine, to make.
Jim, we don't want the whole world. Just some of it. The anti's don't want us to have ANY of it. But, that's too bad, because we aren't going anywhere.
We are just fighting for the personal property rights of business owners. If this right is lost, the rest will soon follow. Then no one wins.
That's and INFORMED Dr! :) I like that. I went to a D.O. from childhood until he passed away about 10 yrs ago. He was great with trying the least intrusive remedies for your common ailments. I learned alot from him.
When I first became a nurse, I was so disillusioned by what I saw in the hospital settings. We'd have the "drug of the week" joke..... seeing all the patients with a particular IV drug or whatever. The Docs would get free trips, camping/hunting gear and other little perks from the drug companies, for using a particular med. Thank goodness they stopped that....but the mentality remains.
Do you know what? We do not frequent places with the likes of you. Everyone who hangs out where we do, are of like minds. We blow smoke in NO one's face.
Where I work, smokers are treated like sub-humans and forced outside if they want to smoke. And when I go walking by a smoker standing outside surrounded by clouds of fragrant smoke, I breathe deep. Not everyone hates cigarette smoke! I just can't stand those people trying to control OTHER people's lives!
Uh... didn't you hear... if you quit smoking, you won't die. I've been hearing that for years. Still waiting to see if I'm immortal now, though.
It's absolutely horrible. Delaware goes completely smoke free the 26th of November. Think of NASCAR at Dover and all those Casinos....
Mayor BloomingIdiot of New York City is trying to ban smoking everywhere there. They vote soon.
California is anti smoking just about everywhere. The PA Governor wants to go after the smokers who buy off of the Internet. Florida is also voting in November to go completely smoke free.
I just can't understand it. They raise the taxes through the roof to "balance state budgets," which just penalizes one group of people. Then, the state governments are upset because smokers are shopping cheap, which is the American Way.
The states aren't realizing the huge windfall from the taxes. Now they are screaming. What did they expect? We are free people! We do what we can to counteract their stupid bigotry.
And I just hope and pray that people wake up and come Election time, remember who is the anti wanting votes. This anti will go after something else next, mark my words. No one is safe from the anti's! No one. Now the war on obesity has started.
Oh sure. They toot their horn that if you don't smoke you will live forever. Excuse me!
I forget his name, but some 52-year-old ANTI smoker died this past week of LUNG cancer. Go figure. He never smoked. He faught against allowing smoking, now he is dead at 52 from lung cancer. See? When our number is up, it won't matter jack chit if we smoked or not.
And thanks for posting! It's refreshing to have a non-smoker in here that is still happy with us! And believe me, there is a HUGE difference between a NON smoker and an ANTI smoker!!
Oh? Mickey Mantle, David Crosby, Larry Hagman...
I'm well aware of that! There is nothing that makes me turn the channel quicker than one of those "Truth" anti-smoker commercials... full of lies and half-truths, and extremely offensive. (Should I also mention that I'm not so fond of those anti-drug ads, either?)
Not to mention that the smokers pay for this personal abuse with the taxes they pay on cigarettes through the Tobacco Settlement Money. They are taking that money and using it against us. Bans, restrictions, control and for these "pet programs" to put on trashy hate ads against the smokers. It's sick!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.