Thank you for not smoking

I have a confession to make:

In my teens and twenties I was a social smoker.

My best friend at the time was a smoker. You'd have to know him but suffice to say he was a real character. He was a prickly guy with a real sassy mouth, a cocky attitude and was surprisingly stronger than he looked. He would do pretty much anything if it was offensive or pissed people off. He was the type of guy who loved to argue and was perpetually in fist fights. Since I could be equally contemptuous (minus the fist fighting) we got along famously and I was kind of what you'd call his "wing man". So like all good young rebels somewhere along the way he started smoking. It was a natural progression for him. Hell, is there any photo of James Dean in existence where he doesn't have a cigarette dangling from his gorgeous teenage pout?

Of course, it was a different world we lived in back then and although we all knew smoking was "bad", cigarettes were still cheap & readily available. Smoking had a sexy, rebellious and grown-up appeal. There was just something so rock & roll about the act of smoking: the squint you make when you light it and take a drag. The nonchalant way you could hold it in your hand, casually waving it around as you speak that would suddenly make you look more world-weary and intelligent, like an old school artist or poet.

So when my buddy took up cigarettes he supplied them to me. I always got them for free. My preferred brand was Camels because they weren't the ones you'd commonly see the other kids smoking and they had a harsh, distinctive smell. Or sometimes I'd get Matinees because that's what I noticed my history teacher smoked. Anyway, since my friend supplied them I really only ever smoked while we were together. In those days I had different pockets of friends (school friends and neighbourhood friends) that didn't mix so some things were acceptable to do with some but not others. I never got "hooked" on cigarettes. Honestly, I never experienced a "buzz" off them. I really just did it for appearances. It was never a habit with me, just something I occasionally did to cop an attitude.

Later on, in university, I had another friend who was a "social smoker". For her it was drinking that caused her to smoke. There was something about having a beer in her hand that made her crave cigarettes. By this time I'd pretty much lost touch with that high school buddy so I rarely ever smoked anymore. I do have a wonderful memory of one night the summer that I graduated from university, though: me and 2 other girls were at this beautiful big house out in the country. The three of us were sitting on the deck in the backyard, looking up at the huge night sky, looking at the stars, chatting about nothing in particular. But it was a hot summer night, we were all moving on to new chapters in our lives and we were filled with hope and anticipation for the future. Just three friends having a moment... and beer... and cigarettes.

The world we're living in today has changed. As the slogan they used in Virginia Slims ads said "You've come a long way, baby". Sure, Humphrey Bogart made cigarettes look cool -- of course, Bogie also died of cancer of the esophagus. People just didn't know then what we do now. In those days, smoking was a rite of passage into adulthood. Now smoking is just a badge of ignorance. With all the health information that's available today there's little excuse to keep up this habit. And with inflated prices and severe limits on places where you're allowed to smoke, I'm amazed that anyone continues to do this.

Now, my exposure to cigarettes is extremely limited. Whenever I am around smokers I find the smell sickening and offensive. Maybe because I'm rarely around it now but my sensitivity to tobacco smell is much more acute: the worst is sharing an elevator with someone returning from a smoke break. More to it, my mind attaches a stigma to smokers. I just think it's trashy. Sure, if you're in a 1940s Noir movie it looked cool. If you're shivering in the alley sucking on a cancer stick today you're just tacky. And yes, people in the glamorous days-gone-by smoked a lot. They also had unprotected sex. It's a different world we're living in, even within my lifetime.

So I've openly admitted to the mistakes of my youth. Youth of today have no excuses. If you're under 30 and you smoke, you're an idiot. And when I stand at the bus stop every day the teenagers seem to be the biggest population of smokers. (Just an aside: Equally repugnant, smoking seems to accompany spitting these days. The sidewalks uptown are splattered with spit. It's worse than pigeon droppings. If your habit fills your sinuses and throats with that much mucus, take that as a sign there's something wrong!) Kids today really have to go out of their way to even find cigarettes, they're harder to buy and certainly more expensive, and the health warnings are clearly labelled on the packaging. You can't tell me there's anyone in the western hemisphere who isn't aware of the risks. Sure, all kids make mistakes, that's how we grow. It's just part of being human. Just try to choose your vices better -- at least then you can feel a little smug about being smarter than your parents' generation. If you're an older person you can at least plead ignorance for your poor choices but it's time to get in tune with the world you're living in today. Step into the 21st century. Smoking is so passe.