Smokers are often viewed with a mixture of pity and shame. People have known that cigarettes are harmful for decades, but many refuse to quit. “We are shunned, shamed, and ashamed,” Amy Atkins writes for Boise Weekly. “We are smokers.”
The mixture of guilt and pride felt by smokers is encapsulated by Atkins’s article. The smokers in her article know it’s dangerous, and that may have been why they started. Atkins respects the anti-smoking laws that are being passed around the country, but acknowledges the libertarian drive to keep the government out of her rights.
She also met her husband on a smoke break. Now he’s trying to quit. She writes:
The chances of him relapsing are much greater if I continue to smoke. But I’m not looking forward to being a miserable, unbearable asshole. I’m between a smoldering rock and an irritable hard place.
I’m cranky just thinking about it. I have to step outside for a minute.
Image by Porcelaingirl, licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: Boise Weekly