Lighten up, don't light up

By: Editorial Board

Posted: 5/12/08

We all participate in activities that statistically might kill us. Driving is dangerous. So is drinking alcohol. But in this country, nothing is made to seem as bad for you as smoking.

Really, is it? Or is that just what everyone wants you to think?

Today, Student Health Services is holding a Spring Tobacco-Free Fair; yet another event to get the word out that smoking is - in fact - bad for you.

However, we think that most student smokers, and smokers in general, have probably realized this already.

"Are you aware of the health risks associated with tobacco?" reads the event details on the OSU calendar. "Come to this informational fair and learn why you should avoid using tobacco."

"If you already use it, find out about local resources that can help you quit."

What if people don't want to quit though? Sure, it's bad for you and many people smoke because they are addicted, but others just, well, like it.

Smokers aren't lost souls in need of guidance - they just have an unhealthy habit, like driving too fast or eating ice cream every night.

But smokers are picked on. Random people will approach a smoker to remind them "Hey! That will kill you someday, you know." Or maybe they will cough loudly from all the way across a street, out of second-hand smoke range.

Now, we don't condone smoking or advertise it in any way, but really, there are a lot of other things that are just as bad for you.

And people don't usually remind you of your imminent death when you do them.

When was the last time you walked up to - what our society would consider - an overweight person and told them, "Eating that bacon is going to kill you someday."

And to address any beer-loving hypocrites, if you really think about it, isn't drinking heavily just as bad?

No one seems to care as much about their liver as their lungs though. Maybe because you don't breathe from it, it's less noticeable - until you need a new one.

Why must smokers be the bad-habit scapegoat of society?

Almost everyone hates second-hand smoke, but that doesn't mean there needs to be a similar hatred towards anyone who produces it.

True, prolonged exposure is an unfair health hazard, but a few minutes isn't going to kill anyone. Being in the presence of drunk people isn't exactly safe either.

Again, we don't want students to go out and buy their first pack, and we don't want people to ruin their lungs; but we do want everyone to realize that although it may be annoying, smoking is just a bad habit like any other. Lighten up.

Editorials serve as a means for Barometer editors to offer commentary and opinions on issues both global and local, grand in scale or diminutive. The views expressed here are a reflection of the editorial board's majority.