I don't want to be told not to smoke. I want that option should I ever choose to start smoking hardcore. So all this anti-tobacco propangda shit that's gonig on is infringing on my right to choose. By making it all anti and yet saying you have the right to choose, well that just sheery ridiculousness. How many of these people preaching to the sheep about not smoking have ever tried a cigarette? And they say never to dismiss something until you've tried it. I know that certainly applies with food, and yet smoking? You tell that you've tasted the sweet drag of a cigarette, and liked it and yet formulated hard opinions against smoking and I will respect your right to tell me not to smoke. But this bullshitting of preaching to me isn't going to earn my respect. Don't try and pretend you know what's going on if you've never even tried.

A poem:

“Smoker’s Lament”

Let me be honest

Sweet rush of nicotine in my system
Makes me jump maddeningly for joy

Why does the world hate a smoker today?
Don’t hate me for having a vice.
A legal vice.

I’m not raping children
I’m not causing anarchy
I’m not trying to rid the world of one race

Can’t you put things in perspective and not
Point that leveling finger at me?
Because I could point mine right back at you.

Do you pay enough attention to your loved ones?
Do you donate enough to charity?
Are you living your life to the fullest everyday?

What good do you do in this world?

Don’t sneer down your nose at me because
I smoke.

I smoke. That’s it. It’s not the entirety of who
I am.
You drink. Is that all that you are? An
Empty bottle of wine?

Everybody prattles on about fairness
And yet it isn’t fair
To judge on a vice
Because we all have vices.

Stop pointing and start listening, please.

2.18.05