IPINIONS

 

PHOTO BY JENNIFER AIRD

Brady Ehler, OP Opinions Editor
Originally, this week, I had planned to write

_ about all the things that piss me off. After

some careful thought, I decided that I am not
usually this angry or critical about things. It
struck me that my rage may be fueled by the
fact that I haven’t had a cigarette in over a
week.

I used to think that smoking was all right.
I used to think that it is the individual’s right
whether or not they should smoke, and that
the government should fuck off and let peo-
ple smoke where they want, when they want,
and for a reasonable price. My view has

_ changed.

This will be the fourth or fifth time that I
have quit smoking. By quit, I don’t mean
gone a day or two without a smoke; I mean
going months or years without. Each time I
go through the excruciating process of with-
drawal, I think to myself, “this is it, I am
never putting myself through this again, it’s
just not worth it”.

Eventually, I find myself drunk at the bar,
and everyone else is smoking. Or, I end up
working at a place where everyone smokes,
and I find myself the only one without a ciga-
rette in my mouth at break time. Or, some-
thing really bad happens to me, and I have no
one to go to for comfort. The result of any
of these scenarios is the same: I end up
smoking a butt. Then I'll have another. Two
weeks later I'll wonder how the hell I ended
up carrying around packs of cigarettes.

I think we have all heard at one point or
another, the claim that cigarettes are more
addictive than heroin. Well, I’ve never tried
heroin, but I know how addictive cigarettes
are, and if it’s anywhere near as addictive, I
can predict that my life would be in the toilet
after a few months if I ever tried the heroin.

My body doesn’t handle cigarettes very
well. They quickly weaken me and make me
prone to getting sick. Cigarettes also make me
depressed very easily, and destroy my singing
voice (which is very important to me), so I
always end up quitting.

 

If you have never quit smoking, just think
about craving your favorite food and multiply
that by 100. Then imagine severe moods
swings that make you angry, then depressed,
then extremely angry, then momentarily -
giddy, then extremely, extremely angry. Then
imagine that you have constant heartburn and
fits of coughing up yellow bile. Then imagine
that you can’t sleep and you twist and writhe
on your bed for hours each night. Imagine all
of this goes on for weeks. Imagine you can
cure it all by picking up a cigarette, and by
smoking this one cigarette, you will not only
cure your symptoms, but also cause a wave of
euphoria will ease its way through your body.
Now imagine resisting that urge constantly.

Not a pretty picture is it? Cigarettes are a
terrible drug. They are damaging to your
health, they are expensive, and they serve no
purpose; they don’t even give you a buzz! Do
you think if cigarettes weren’t addictive, that
people would still smoke them? Not with any
sort of regularity; the only thing that makes
cigarettes appealing is their ability to kill the
cravings that they themselves cause.

~~y

I am sorry I ever started smoking. It was a
critical error in judgment, that I made when I
was too young and too naive to think that
such a powerful and useless drug could be
mass marketed all over the world, with aston-
ishing success.

When BC’s laws came into effect that
decreed smokers had to keep themselves con- ~
tained into special smoking rooms, when
inside of restaurants, or pubs, I was appalled;
I was too concerned about freedom of choice
to realize the sense behind it.

Now I realize that non smokers and espe-
cially ex-smokers have a right not to be
exposed to cigarette smoke. Besides, freedom
of choice is fine and well, but it we live in a
complicated world, and sometimes organiza-
tions, such as big tobacco companies exploit
that freedom, by marketing a product that is
as useless as it is poisonous and addictive.

 

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it@hotmail.com

I find that the more time I spend at Douglas
College, the more my resentment grows
towards fluorescent light tubes.

Glaring down from their parallel fixtures,
they force harsh artificial light onto the stu-
dents below. These lights are ruthless and
unflattering; like rows of soldiers with an
ominous purpose they crush the attempts at
personal beauty, the occupants of the room
have tried to conjure. Highlighting imperfec-
tions the students thought that they had hid-
den, the fluorescent tubes of terror prove
that resistance is futile.

Perhaps it would not be so bad if the
lichts in one classroom were consistent. But
instead, in any chosen room, the Douglas
staff and students will find that different
tubes emit a different shade of sickness. Take
room 3343 in New West for example; a
brighter, more yellow sheen is produced on
the left side of the room, which gives any
unsuspecting student a lovely aura of jaun-
dice, and on the right, a pinker hue awaits,
eagerly awaiting to cast an appearance of

facial rosacea upon its victims.

With all of this built up resentment
towards these light sources, one may think
that I would conspire to grant them an
untimely end. However, considering that the
lights are all shielded by a protective layer, the
only other way to defeat them is to wait until
they burn out on their own.

Sadly, that too poses no resolution, as flu-
orescent light tubes are the Dick Clark of
light bulbs. You will never see a tube succumb
to old age peacefully; they will flicker with
protest for weeks and months. Not satisfied
after a life of harshening features and offer-
ing eyesore-induced headaches, the incessant
random strobe light effect of an expiring flu-

orescent will try to take the unfortunate peo-
ple below with it by annoying them to suicide.
To my infinite frustration, the fluorescent
tube is here to stay. Our indoor, electrical
society ensures its survival. As our depend-
ence on artificially manufactured elements
shines brighter, I can feel a sickening darkness

grow within my stomach.

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