I read yesterday that the Federal government is considering adding an additional tax on cigarettes -- nearly a dollar a pack. Currently, the cost for a pack of cigarettes is about half taxes (over $2 a pack).
To their credit, I haven't heard many smokers complaining. I think the extra taxes ought to go toward health care, since smokers add a hefty amount to the cost of national health services.
But it got me to thinking how much things have changed in my lifetime. When I was a kid, the majority of adults smoked. I watch the old "I Love Lucy" show, and the four of them all light up as they sit in the living room. Growing up in the home of a smoker, I can only imagine what that room must have been like -- with four people puffing away. But our clothes always smelled like smoke, as well as our bedding and curtains, etc. And I would not have thought a thing about being in a restaurant with a heavy haze of smoke.
Having been away from that for years has changed my perspective. The other day when we were in Houston, we went to an outdoor cafe. About 20 feet away there was a man smoking -- and the smoke drifted my way. And I noticed! Now, it is like someone is invading my space if they smoke around me.
Quite a difference of perspective.
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Do you remember the men of the church popping outside for a smoke before the sermon on Sunday morning? I certainly do. Society's perception of sin has changed over the same time period but in the opposite way.
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