Smoker’s Excuse
These are tobacco packaging warning signs. I am a smoker, but frankly speaking, these sincere, kind, and severe messages don’t touch my heart at all. Or, honestly, I even doubt that other smokers smoke paying attention to these signs.
I have smoked since my high school friend gave me the first cigarette when I was 16. In Japan, an ID card that prove the age is not necessary to buy a cigarette. When I was a child, my father used to ask me to go buy a cigarette. I always looked forward to it because he gave me some extra money to buy an ice cream bar. I used to rush into a local grocery store like his loyal pet dog as soon as he put money on my hand.
But at that time I had truly no idea what part of a smoking action was fun because nothing goes to the stomach. One day I asked my father, who was smoking lying on his favorite couch, “Is the smoke delicious?” He slowly puffed out a large amount smoke out of his mouth and answered after a little with a satisfactory smile, “Yes, it is.” I had never thought that I myself would get tobacco addiction.
I, or every smokers, know well that “Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy,” “Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health,”and “Smoking Kills” without being told.
So why don’t I give up smoking? The answer is simple. I just can’t give up.
Moreover, tobacco costs much in the U.S. My favorite Marlboro Lights Menthol costs $4.76 a pack in Michigan while it costs $2.85 in Japan. Thanks to the wonderful price I reduced smoking. Now I puff around 15 pieces a day while I used to do 30 in Japan, yet still I suffer from an economic damage by this. Some international students say they buy duty-free tobacco on the Internet. But I don’t want to take such a petty way even if I don’t have much money and always say, “I want to contribute to the State of Michigan paying tax!”
So why don’t I give up smoking? Sorry, but I still can’t give up…
Of course I know well how much non-smokers hate smoking. A long time ago, many international airlines used to have smoking seats. An Alitalia Airline between Rome to Tel Aviv was my worst ever flight (I don’t mean the Alitalia itself is to be blamed). I unwisely took a smoking seat.
Smoky… As soon as smoking sign lamps turned on in the plane, smoking section became clouded with thick haze. The onboard air ventilators didn’t help at all. I regret for my seat choice, but watching the others’ smoking, I felt like trying a Marlboro Medium which I just had bought at a duty free shop in the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome. The Marlboro Medium was not available in Japan at that time.
Then, I took out one piece from the pack, lighted it, inhaled the smoke slowly, and puffed out of my mouth and nose. Hmm…, not bad, even good. But the pleasure didn’t last long.
A young Israeli woman next to me (she was reading a Hebrew book) said that my smoke annoyed her. For my smoke hit her face directly because of the airflow in the plane. I stopped smoking soon saying I was sorry, but after a while, she started puffing her own Marlboro Lights as if nothing had happened! The plane was frequently shaken due to the bad weather. Under such circumstances, it was impossible to enjoy an airplane meal. I wondered why other passengers could eat the meal with relish. Gazing at their chomping, I got sick seriously and couldn’t touch the meal at all though I was actually hungry.
Even worse, many passengers who were sitting on non-smoking seats came into our holy ground after they finished eating and started smoking standing up. The air in this section became almost white. Alitalia staffs asked them to go back to their seats, but their voices didn’t reach the smokers’ ears. I knew why. For a smoker, an after-dinner pipe is a moment of heaven.
Although I didn’t know whether it is an Italian or Israeli tradition, all the passengers except for me clapped and cheered when the aircraft made a safe landing on the Ben Gurion Airport of Israel. What an amazing and heartwarming scene, but I rather cheered for the end of the terrible air than the safe flight.
After this bad experience I came to avoid smoking seats in every flight and railroad as much as possible. I pitifully understood how much non-smokers hate smoking. When I was a company worker in Osaka, I often made a business trip to Tokyo with my boss by a bullet train. Because my boss was also a smoker he always wanted to have a seat in a smoking car. But I wanted to avoid it. Of course I hated the bad air in the car, but I also didn’t like getting the smoke smell on my business suits for which I paid a lot.
So, before the trip date I used to tell the boss voluntarily that I would book a train ticket for him as well as mine and I booked non-smoking seats and told him a lie; “Sorry, but smoking seats have already been full.”
Then, as soon as I got off a train at the Tokyo terminal station after the two and a half hours trip from Osaka, I lighted a cigarette and blew a thick white cloud.
Today, smoking in a passenger plane is no longer allowed outright. After the 9/11, even carrying a lighter was banned in every flight to the U.S. I have had two lighters seized at security checks before the passport control of Osaka and Tokyo. I knew the new rule, of course, but I expected I would be lucky if I could pass undetected.
These days, my mother sent me an email and said my father finally gave up smoking at the age of 70. It is clear she implicitly suggests I quit, too.
Sorry, but I still can’t give up smoking…