When you went to the Dr. the waiting room was full of ashtrays and people smoking. When you got in the Dr.'s office, he had an ashtray on his desk and you could smoke there. You could smoke any and everywhere. On buses, in taxis, restaurants, movies...everywhere. Why? Because no one ever talked about smoking being bad.
Here are a few ads which were all over tv, movies, magazines and newspapers as I grew up. This was very ordinary.
I've thought about this a lot as I considered quitting. The world...at least the world I lived in.. was a completely different place back then. It has been difficult to feel like some scuzzy person because I smoke. Sure, it's a bad habit, but I'm not a bad person because I have this habit. There is a prejudice against smokers and there shouldn't be.
It's like everyone smoked, everyone thought it was okay, even cool, to smoke. Then one day I wake up and everyone hates it and hates me because I smoke. It's been difficult, and my rebellion has kept me from wanting to quit. I wasn't going to quit just because some people with radical views didn't want me to.
Kindness, compassion and tolerance are ALWAYS more effective than laws, admonitions, and ostracizing.
