January 1st means so much more than the start of a new year...at least for me, anyway. January 1st means that every bar and restaurant in the city of Portland...Hell, the entire state of Oregon...will be smoke-free...and I can't imagine that ANYONE in the Portland area is happier than I am. If you've hung around these parts for any length of time, you're no doubt well aware of my insanely militant opposition to anything even remotely tobacco-related.
I've said this before, but I'll happily repeat it: your "right" to smoke does not trump my right to breathe air unpolluted by second-hand tobacco smoke. Since cigarette smoke respects no boundaries, that means that us non-smoking humans should be considered to have an absolute right to air that is free of second-hand tobacco smoke. Of course, I realize that this will sound unreasonable and indefensible to some who haven't walked in my shoes, but I don't much care. After growing up with a father who smoked (you just don't roll down a car window in northern Minnesota in the dead of winter) and having lived and worked in the former Yugoslavia (where smoking is the national sport), I detest tobacco smoke, and over time I've developed a pronounced allergy to cigarette smoke. Yes, I'm normally a fairly mild-mannered sort, but light up a cigarette around me and you will experience a side of me you will NOT be impressed with.
I will freely admit that I can be something of an asshole around cigarette smokers, but, damnit, I shouldn't be force-fed the byproduct of someone else's addiction just because they decide to feed the beast in my vicinity. I don't hate smokers, but I do hate cigarette smoke. If I walk into a restaurant and smell cigarette smoke, I will immediately turn on my heel and walk out. I refuse to expose my lungs to the health risks associated with second-hand smoke. Why should I be exposed to the byproduct of someone else's addiction...especially when that person clearly doesn't care about anything but meeting their own needs? The fact that they may be adversely impacting those around them seems lost on most smokers. Such is the nature of addiction, I suppose; I simply choose not to participate in being force-fed second-hand smoke.
It will be interesting to see how the bar and restaurant business changes in Oregon after January 1st. Some will say that this is just another step in the marginalizing of cigarette smokers, to which I would say (in the immortal word of Dick Cheney), "So?" I have no argument with cigarette smokers, merely the toxic and deadly pollution they create. If they choose to feed their addiction in a manner that doesn't adversely impact the air I breathe, they can knock themselves out. When that ceases to be the case, though, you can bet I'm likely to go into full-asshole mode in short order.
THAT'S why I'm looking forward to 2009....
