Smoking ban

Belgium finally decided on having a smoking ban! Well, not Belgium, more like the European Union nudged Belgium to stop procrastinating and do it now. First it was going to be 2011, then 2012, then 2014 (the politicians were worried about the complaining voters), but the EU and the Health Department told them that's three more years of living in smoke. So they did it. And to this I say YAAAAAAY!
Finally I can go to the pub without suffocating to death.

Lots of Belgians are displeased, and not a little bit. I was reading an article about the ban on one of the news websites, and my my you should read the comments!You'd think they banned beer. "Facism, discrimination, selfish non-smokers, too much perfume and farms smell too and nobody's banning that, there goes the pub atmosphere..blablabla"
Those are just a few of the comments I read by disgruntled smokers. Really! Selfish non-smokers?? How rude! So just because we had the cleverness of not getting addicted to a cancer-causing smokestick, we are forced to spend our nights out with your bad habit in our face. How is that for selfish. What about all the people who work in pubs and spent night after night in the smoke of dozens of people's cigarettes, their lungs must be pitchblack, smokers or no.

My own grandfather died of lung cancer caused by years and years of smoking since the age of 15, so I know first-hand what that little cigarette can cause.
Smoke does not make the pub's atmosphere better. Just because we're used to it, doesn't mean drinking is not the same without it. How much effort does it take to go outside for a few minutes if you simple must have your smoke? And hey maybe now you won't smoke one cigarette after another like my friend does on nights out if you need to go outside for it.
There's no fun in sitting in front of a friend who smokes through the night, blowing smoke in your face. Not only does the stink of the smoke get in your clothes, hair and even skin, it often causes me to have a sore throat.
In Ireland they've had a smoking ban for years now and I always enjoy the absence of the smell and not having to air or wash clothes every time you go out. They complained a bit at first, but now everyone is used to it, and there's no bother. People still go to the pub, and smokers still come too, they go outside and chat other people who smoke up even! Smirting it's called. So not so bad!

I guess none of them realise the risk they're taking smoking for many years, to most, lung cancer happens to others, it's far from their bedside. And most come with the argument non-smokers can get lung cancer too. True, but the odds for smokers are a lot higher. And there are other downsides too. Avid smokers usually end up with yellow nails, yellow teeth, the worst breath in the world (I know because of a teacher I used to have explaining something close to me, yuk! horrible smell), a scary cough, wheezy breathing when doing exercise..
All for that cigarette.

Be smart, don't start. That's what my mom always said, and it sunk in.