I ran into Nancy Hector, a neighbor and friend at the In Hot Water coffee shop last week, and as often happens lately with many of my friends, she had an idea for a column. "I want you to write something about people smoking outside of Annandale’s downtown businesses" Hector said. She went on to question why there could not be a city ordinance stating that smoking be prohibited within 20 feet of the front entrance of a business.
"It is not very inviting to have to walk through a cloud of smoke in order to get into some of our businesses, not to mention the butts on the sidewalks," Hector said.
I strolled down Oak Avenue twice last week to check out the validity of what Nancy was talking about. On both occasions, there were smokers enjoying their cigarettes directly outside store-fronts. On Tuesday I spotted four smokers and on Friday six. Nancy was right, even outside, it was not pleasant walking through the smoke.
Whether or not there should be a city ordinance keeping smokers a certain distance from store entrances, is something the city council would have to consider. If Annandale residents feel strongly about this, they should let the mayor and council members know.
A voluntary ban may be just as effective. A sign saying something like "We would like to keep our store-front a smoke-free environment" could remind the smokers that their smoking could be offensive to others. Nancy Hector also said, "In this poor economy, the downtown businesses should do whatever they can to make Annandale an inviting place to shop."
As I was preparing this opinion piece, I started thinking about my years as a smoker. I quit eight years ago, having smoked for 33 years. I started smoking at 18, as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Friends and I used to study math in a room located in the basement of the library. This room allowed smoking and while none of my friends were regular smokers, two or three of them would smoke while doing their calculus homework. I was a non-smoker and was curious why they smoked doing math. Duke, a couple years older and wiser, said it helped him concentrate and stay focused on the difficult problems. Duke was a math major, so he should know, right? He offered, and I took, a Benson and Hedges cigarette. That was the start of my 33 years as a smoker.
You might have been surprised that we were smoking in a library room, but back in 1970, at Morris it was not unusual. Students could smoke in their dorm rooms, the cafeteria, and yes even some of the classrooms. In the Social Science building, where I had the majority of my classes, there would often be a stack of ashtrays right inside the classroom door, for the smokers. I do not recall being asked not to smoke during classes in that building.
There were, of course, some buildings we could not smoke, the PE Center, the Science and Math Building, and the main part of the library. It must have been unpleasant for the non-smokers, but you rarely heard complaints. I smoked all the time in my dorm room, but my non-smoker roommate never complained. With six or seven smokers in a classroom with no ventilation, how did the non-smokers stand it?
Growing up, my parents both smoked. I guess not knowing any different, it seemed normal for us to be in a smoke filled car on trips. I am sure if I were to ride in a car today with a smoker, and the windows rolled up, I would become ill.
Growing up in a smoking home, you can imagine how bad my clothes must have smelled going to school. Today, now a non-smoker, I can detect smokey clothes several feet away.
I was stubborn about my smoking. My mother died of breast cancer in 1985, despite this and knowing full well how damaging it was to my health, I continued to smoke for another 18 years. I do not remember what prompted me, but cold-turkey I did quit eight years ago.
I don’t know how people can afford to smoke anymore. When I started, cigarettes were less than a dollar a pack; now some brands are over $5 a pack. If I were still smoking, that would be about a $100 a week habit for me.
There are times that I miss having a cigarette, but I certainly do not regret quitting. Smoking was a wicked habit that I fear I have yet to feel its ultimate health impact.