Take a Deep Breath
…because you can do that more easily now in Michigan!
When I arrived at work yesterday, I was confused about why so many people were smoking so far away from the building’s entrance. Usually when I go into work, there is a group of smokers so close to the door that it is impossible to get into the building without walking through a cloud of smoke. This happens despite stenciling on the actual doors that clearly state “no smoking at this entrance.”
As if them smoking at the entrance was not enough, these people tend to be quite rude, as well. They stand in front of the door, they see you coming, yet they refuse to move. Just how do they expect me to get inside?! I cannot say excuse me that easily when their smoke is filling my lungs and making it difficult to breathe, not to mention talk.
When I was inside the building, though, and had read through a related building email, I was reminded that Michigan‘s smoking ban, which was signed into law towards the end of last year, was finally going into effect today. I guess the smokers were getting a head start.
When I first moved to California after college, I did not even notice that smoking was not happening around me. It probably was not until I went to visit a restaurant for the first time in California and inquired about smoking and nonsmoking that a friend told me of California‘s smoking ban. After that moment, I started to actually notice and appreciate the lack of smoke around me more. The smoking ban was one of the things that I truly missed about California after I moved back to Michigan.
Even though I will probably not go outside of my home at all today to enjoy it, I still cannot help but smile at the thought of cleaner, fresher air.
I know that this will not be an instant reformation that will make me feel like I’m in California all of the sudden. There were still the one or two smokers at work yesterday who smoked right by the door anyway. Additionally, there will still be places where smoke overtook the building long before this ban that will still smell like smoke for decades to come. Think bowling alleys and restaurants, especially carpeted ones. Nevertheless, I look forward to the effects that it will have on the local environment.
While I have never smoked anything in my life, including meat (which is not saying much since I do not eat meat), my musical mind could not help but share just a couple of my favorite songs that involve smoking. Enjoy!
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright
While the strongest vice that Rufus Wainwright mentions in this song is cigarettes, we all know from his own words that “everything it seems [he] like’s a little bit stronger
A little bit thicker, a little bit harmful for [him].”
Smoking Cigarettes by Tweet
In this song, a lost love has Tweet “nervous and tremblin,’ smoking cigarettes at night.”
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