Puff

Night before last I videotaped the broadcast of "World News Tonight With Peter Jennings," and I caught up with it yesterday evening. (Yes, the show is still called that. Wonder when it will change?) The show paid lengthy tribute to Jennings, and the very end was heartbreaking: a shot of his empty chair. But also heartbreaking was an earlier moment, when pictures were shown of his 25-year-old daughter and his son, who just graduated from Wesleyan University (my sweetheart Ereck's alma mater)--fatherless now, apparently thanks to cigarettes.

They must miss their dad terribly, and in a roundabout way this got me to thinking about the smoking ban the City of Madison implemented last month. Many people are angry about it, and foes of the ban talk about rights and liberties. And it definitely is anyone's legal right to smoke; this I of course believe.

But there is right, and then there is good. And when I think about the families of people who die from smoking, I have to ask: smoking is a right, but is it ethical? If I am a smoker, is it ethical for me to smoke, knowing that my habit likely will eventually hurt someone I love, because it will make me sick, or kill me?

The answer, obviously, is no. I wish the people putting so much effort into fighting the ban would put as much effort into quitting, and getting the tobacco companies out of the business. But then again, I am an ex-smoker, and every smoker knows that the only thing worse than the preaching of a nonsmoker is the preaching of an ex-smoker.