Logical Conclusions
Deborah Venable
07/04/11
I
smoke for the same reason I drink beer, shoot guns, read books, write articles,
plant gardens, have animals, listen to good music, and communicate with good
friends – I ENJOY all these things.
I
don’t take drugs, (legal or otherwise) eat mutton, ride roller coasters, look
at pornography, accept speaking engagements, ride motorcycles, keep snakes as
pets, listen to noise called music, or pick fights with neighbors because I do
NOT enjoy any of these things.
The
logical conclusion for each and every individual is to decide for himself what
he enjoys doing. Some things actually
require “trying out” to make that decision.
For instance, I actually ate mutton and lamb and even goat several
different times before I came to the conclusion that I would probably never
enjoy the flavor.
I’ve
had good friends and neighbors that kept snakes and rode motorcycles, and after
having to visit most of the motor cycle riders in the hospital, not to mention
seeing the mayhem of rounding up the snakes when they inevitably escape into
the neighborhood, I decided these things were not something I was ever likely
to enjoy.
I
took my share of roller coaster rides in youth and was never “thrilled” enough
by that experience either to decide that I enjoyed it.
I
have been exposed to all genres of music over three decades of child rearing,
so that one was easy to make a decision on what I would enjoy.
I
never felt any compulsion to “do” illegal drugs, and the few times I’ve had to take
extremely potent legal ones convinced me that I would never have a “drug”
problem because I could never enjoy the feeling of drug influenced
behavior. I’ll take the pain instead
whenever I can.
I
took a speech class in college, which convinced me I would never enjoy speaking
or lecturing, even though I did somewhat enjoy feedback sessions to small
groups when that was my livelihood.
Oh,
and the pornography and picking fights thing just isn’t something that sane
folks enjoy anyway. Judgmental? You bet!
That is what making decisions is all about.
I
am judged every day for smoking and drinking beer, and I am sure my sanity is
questioned for doing one or both. The
problem comes when the government enforces judgment on such legal choices,
while turning a blind eye to much more dangerous legal choices that others may
make.
It
has become so politically incorrect to smoke legal cigarettes in this country
that an entire industry of providers of the product is regulated and forced to
comply with an ever-growing absurd packaging requirement in an attempt to
convince people NOT to buy their product.
Meanwhile, the governing agencies continue to soak the users of the
product with exorbitant “taxes” which non-users rely on for untold
goodies.
THAT,
my dear friends, is NOT a logical conclusion.
It
is also NOT a logical conclusion that otherwise conservative individualists
would join with the politically correct rabble-rousers in thinking all the
non-smoking regulation is a good thing.
But many do.
Meanwhile,
as the number of smokers decline, the number of drug users, (legal and
otherwise) and the rate of mental illness, and obesity go up. (Lung cancer doesn’t seem to be declining
all that much either.) I’m just sayin .
. .
I’m
an old person now and have never cost the government or anyone else one single
dime in healthcare. I have smoked and
drank beer all my life though. I have
probably paid enough in taxes on both to more than pay for ANY catastrophic
illness I may ever suffer if it came to that.
But for the most part, those taxes have been used to promote political
correctness against my choices and allow society to keep on making much WORSE
and more destructive choices. Also not
a very logical conclusion to the further insistence on this unfair judgment of
me, is it?
About
the time that tobacco products were banned from television advertising, a
plethora of legal drug advertising started showing up – many designed to fight
so-called clinical depression. If you
listen to the possible side effects from these drugs, it makes you wonder why
horrible consequence pictures are not required on every prescription bottle!
While
the government has intervened in the choice of employers to be “judgmental” in
deciding whom they want to hire based on certain other life choice illnesses,
(HIV disorders and/or mental illness being “treated,” or even just being gay)
it encourages the harshest judgment AGAINST hiring smokers.
While
I still had kids in public schools I wasn’t allowed to know if they may at any
time be exposed to the deadly AIDS virus via an infected child’s bloody nose or
you name it, but my kids were encouraged to harp on me as a vice-ridden person
for being a smoker – and THAT “education” was paid for via my cigarette taxes.
Such
examples as these do NOT illustrate logical conclusions to societal or
especially governmental actions! I
could put forth a much more logical conclusion. Perhaps as we become a more regulated and controlled society, our
health issues, CAUSED by such controls as more prolific use of drugs, God knows
what additives to our food and water supply, sanctioned yet unreal medical
“care” demands, and absence of responsibility for our own choices, whatever
they may be, will weaken us beyond the ability to fight anything.
The
healthcare issue has already become the stake through America’s heart – and it
was all done in the name of socialist power and control. It started long before Obamacare. We already had to be “gasping for our last
breath” before THAT little piece of legislation could be wrought on us.
If
my fate down the road is to die gasping for breath, because I CHOSE to smoke
for enjoyment, why is that any worse than any of the other ways I could
die? I don’t choose to be obese or drug
addled, or even prescription drug dependent.
I haven’t even sought medical treatment for anything in almost ten
years. The thought of doing that scares
me far more than just dying from whatever befalls me at this point. I’m sure I’ll enjoy that last smoke and that
last beer, though, just as I always have.
One
thing you can never argue with is that death is a logical conclusion to living
a full life.