There is no clever or interesting way to open this, since none but those who share in my addiction will agree with me.

I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’m sick of the frostbite, the freezing winds blowing smoke back into my mouth, mingling with the smoky chemicals and forcing the combination back in until I feel sick.

Those non-smokers among you probably think it’s the ultimate deterrent. Somehow, I deserve to be forced to inhale this mixture. It is a fitting punishment for my choosing to take up such a disgusting habit.

I don’t care if you’re denying it, because I know that’s exactly how some of you feel. I’ve seen enough of those looks on the faces of non-smokers to know. Besides, few people bother trying to conceal their true feelings in their facial expressions. Say what you like. You probably figure that everyone is looking anyway, and the nonverbal code is passed.

No, I don’t deserve it. Being a smoker does not make me a bad person who deserves some horrible punishment. It makes me a very stressed-out person who feels that he deserves something to help him relax.

Yet I do feel that way: punished. After all, I’m banned from every indoor area on campus when I want a cigarette. As everyone else around me rushes inside to warmth and knowledge, I’m stuck in the cold, enduring it because I want to relax as much as possible in the five minutes I have before class. They used to do something like this a few hundred years ago too. It was called shunning.

I’m well aware of the Healthier America campaign that is overrunning this country. I know the dangers of smoking. Yet I have chosen to smoke, and my choice is deserving of the same respect for personal decision-making as I am of yours by not blowing smoke into your faces as you pass by.

Smoking was not considered a very nice habit from the beginning. Which is why in most public places, designated smoking and non-smoking areas were in place so that people could indulge without that paranoia of getting the flu in the process.

I don’t think I’m a bad person, which is why I think that I and others who share my habit should have one lousy room on this campus where we can relax, smoke our cigarettes in peace, study for our exams and have something else to say other than “I am freezing my ass off.”

I don’t consider this to be an unreasonable request. Universities across the country have already done it. No, you don’t have to join us.

All I’m asking for is a little bit of consideration. Smoking does not make me or anyone else a bad person, and in keeping with that idea, I don’t think it’s fair to force us to suffer in the cold because we’ve taken advantage of our right to choose and have chosen to smoke. Do you?

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