STOP POLLUTING MY AIR...PUHLEEASE?

I just came from my friend’s place and I smell like shit! It seems cigarette smoke is all over me when in fact, I DON’T SMOKE AT ALL. But being with people who do, like my constant buddies Prue and Piper- both Marlboro fanatics, makes me an “active” second-hand smoker for years now.

But of course I don’t put the blame on them. I’ve had smoker-friends since college. They would gather around me usually at the cafes outside the campus, during sleepovers, or parties, and smoke like there’s no tomorrow. At the workplace, smoking is a regular habit of almost everyone, even at non-smoking areas. Meetings or brainstormings, even tapings have one constant element—yosi! Never mind if it’s prohibited in the studio, they can spot areas where to puff their killer cigarettes. So smoker or not, we breathe the same polluted air, even in unventilated areas, which makes it all the more hazardous. How can you even complain when it’s the bosses or heads that couldn’t do without puffing a stick or a pack for that matter. How I wish I don’t have to put up with that. Why do I have to suffer for every pleasure they get out of smoking?

I have nothing against people who smoke. To each his own. I just have an aversion to yosi itself. I dislike inhaling it and I sooo hate the smell of cigarette butts left in an ashtray. I detest consuming it myself. I know the health risks. BUT I know it’s one thing that I cannot evade. It’s there everywhere I go. In a perfect world, maybe I can choose to breathe just the clean air, or at least impose anyone not to pollute my air…BUT I know, such world doesn’t exist. Not yet.

I’ve been told and have read somewhere that passive smokers are at far greater risk than smokers themselves. Though I’m not sure if this has been proven, I do worry still. I was reading Reader’s Digest the other day and came across an article about a lady from Philadelphia, Heather Rudnick, only 33 and had never smoked but was diagnosed with lung cancer. How could she have lung cancer? Dana Reeve, the then widow of Superman Christopher Reeve, and also a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer. If you were in their shoes, you would certainly ask yourself this question- “why me?”

I’m just glad I’m not one of those people who claim they can’t do so many things without a cigarette. They feel they can’t think or work on something so well without it. Moreso beat their deadlines or relax without a puff. No thanks, but coffee can do that for me. I derive pleasure from drinking a cup, at least no one suffers or I don’t put anyone’s health at risk while doing so. And good thing, I can start or end my day even without one.

Later in the day, I’m gonna meet up again with my buddies to work on a project, and I’m certain they would make sure they have their Marl lights or menthol with them. And they wouldn’t hear me complaining…but if I would play God, I may just tell them outright to please stop polluting my air! Or better yet make them live each day without their brains telling them to puff a cigarette. As they say, it’s already part of their system, and it’s not that easy to just stop. Not even a government warning: SMOKING KILLS helps. I’m pretty sure after hours of conversations and brainstorming, I would again get home smelling like shit and head straight to the shower, wishing the cigarette smoke I have inhaled would also wash out in the drain.