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From: jan@ccice5.UUCP (John A. Nicowski Jr.)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Smoker Responsibility
Message-ID: <838@ccice5.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-May-85 07:21:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: ccice5.838
Posted: Fri May 24 07:21:52 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 25-May-85 07:11:52 EDT
References: <1002@ames.UUCP>
Reply-To: jan@ccice5.UUCP (John A. Nicowski Jr.)
Distribution: net.flame
Organization: CCI Central Engineering, Rochester, NY
Lines: 46

>	God help us when we lose our freedom to be wrong, to be stupid,
>and to act against our own best interests. I know no man is an island,
>and that I indirectly pay for the foolishness of others. But I'll pay
>that price willingly in return for the freedom to engage in a little
>foolishness of my own.
>	I sometimes wonder if the really fanatic anti-smokers aren't
>secretly a little sorry that *all* us smokers don't die an early death
>from cancer or heart disease.
>
>-  From the Crow's Nest  -                      Kenn Barry
>                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
>                                                Moffett Field, CA
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 	USENET:		 {ihnp4,vortex,dual,nsc,hao,hplabs}!ames!barry


	Kenn, who are you kidding?  My father, a relatively young man at
55, just got home last week from a two and a half week stay in the hospital,
eight days in an I.C.U. from a bout with emphysema.  He, too was convinced
that he has the right to do as he pleases with his health.  I agree there,
he does, but that is not where it ends.

	During his stay, my mother, whose health is suspect as well (she
has had four heart attacks) was alone to tend to all the affairs of their
home, and still try to be with him as much as possible.  They live in the
country, so this meant several hour and a half commutes to the hospital.

	As fate would have it, the car decided that it should break down,
and the water pump (the water they use has to be pumped from a well)
figured this was a good time to prove the adage about the cow not missing
its tail till its gone.

	To make a long story short, my father's right to kill himself off
smoking caused me tremendous inconvenience (my brother-in-law and I fixed
the car and the pump...both tasks my father would have been otherwise able
to perform), cost me money (several hour commutes to my mother's aid), and
left the three of us in rather haggard condition (We have to work too, my
father, however, was forced to retire five years ago because of poor health).
I no longer feel as surely as I used to that my father has the right to 
smoke.

	By the way, he says he doesn't mind having the oxygen tank at home,
and with him whenever he is more than a couple of miles away from home.

	Noone is an island, Kenn, there are others to think about as we
decide that we have the right to be irresponsible.