Opinion: Students Chastise Campus Smokers

By Broadside Opinion Columnist Scott Mason

Smoking cigarettes. It’s something many of us have tried in college, whether we remember doing it or not. For those of you who smoke on a daily basis, myself included, life is a bit frustrating. It starts with the looks. The looks we get when smoking in a relatively public place are often times the most piercing and disapproving we can ever get. It is as if you are waving the cigarette in their face, while laughing hysterically. Other times, you get a look as if you have crawled up from the deep bottom of society.

I feel as though people think that the smoker is worse than smoking itself. Granted, many of us don’t help our case. Some of us do look like we crawled out from under a rock, and we do clog the entrances and exits to the Johnson Center and other buildings around campus. However, the point isn’t just about smoking—you can take this example and apply it to so many other things. And the bottom line is that something needs to be done.

We all have our own character traits and personal life choices, including the way we display them and view what others do or think. I don’t expect my friends to suffer from secondhand smoke inhalation, although I personally choose to smoke. I don’t even expect people to stop telling me I shouldn’t smoke, but what would go much further in actually making me quit than a ton of dirty looks every day is a bit of compassion and understanding. Take the time to know why smokers smoke, and a lot of the time it just may surprise you. There are reasons and stories behind the way everyone’s lives are lived out.

Other personal issues such as religion, race, political stance, philosophy, sexual orientation and gender preference could all be treated in much the same way.

Staring and funny looks never help anything; if anything, they strengthen the resolve of those being stared at. If you disagree with the way someone lives his or her life or you would like to learn more about how someone lives, then it is all right to ask questions. Then understanding will ensue, as long as an open mind is kept.

But also realize that sometimes that someone’s personal information is just that, personal. Our own personal lives and lifestyle is part of our identity, so to always assume that you have the right to know everything about us is extremely overreaching. It seems oftentimes that people bury themselves in each other’s business, and that tabs are constantly kept. We are selflessly fascinated with each other’s lives but at the same time we don’t always want people prying into our own. It is a contradiction in a lot of ways, which might explain reality television, but that’s another story. It is just strange how people can be so defensive about their own lives and views, but jump all over someone else’s. I will admit that I act this way at times, and I believe that we all do. We all are imperfect with or without dirty looks, but the awareness of them can only help us to recognize our flaws and move towards being a little bit better.

Caution is key when it comes to approaching someone’s personal life and thoughts; as is good judgment when it comes to all of this as well. Knowing when it’s all right and when it’s not alright to ask questions. Understanding that we are in college means there will be things we don’t agree with going on possibly in the other bed in the room you share is something we all must come to accept. We must also realize that the dirty looks we give from time to time are rude. All they do is make people feel bad or think you are crazy, especially if they catch you staring. Either way the outcome is negative and does not improve any part of the disagreement. So whether it is smoking, relationships or whatever else we do, some courtesy will go a long way in making friends, and maybe coming to some common ground and stop worrying and improve everyone’s psyche for the better.