lung cancer? no thanks...i just ate

No offence to anyone that partakes in this 'activity' but I feel the need to vent my disgust...(apologies in advance!)

I really can't stand people that smoke, particularly cigarettes. Sure, I have no authority over those people that do choose to take a puff every now and then, and I don't intend to scold them for intentionally succumbing to lung cancer in the long run but do they have to leave their remnants littered everywhere? Maybe I'm very nit-picky but the sight of the accumulating pile of cigarette butts on the sidewalk near my house is agitating. My pet peeve of smoking is not restricted merely to the blatant disposal of little orange-colored pieces of nicotine, but it also extends to the smell. I experience a slight case of suffocation and nausea when I'm exposed to a cloud of cancer, and I tend to cough uncontrollably for a few minutes. Especially in confined spaces where sufficient ventilation is not available (ie. an elevator - yes, this did actually happen once), I can't say that I'm in my most comfortable state. As an added bonus to the foul odour, didn't some scientist conduct a research and discovered that second-hand smoking is worse than actual smoking? Yes, if you don't mind I'd like to live up to my maximum lifespan (maybe around 90-something if I'm lucky). [Go ahead and drastically shorten your own lifespan but don't take me down with you.]

My reason to detest this socially-accepted action is derived mainly from my childhood. My mother smoked for 15 years up until I was 8 years old and it hurt me to see her wake up nightly at 4AM to cough up a patch of tar. I used to wonder if she would eventually "cough up a lung" at the rate she was going. One day, I confronted her while I balled my eyes out, exclaiming that I wanted her to live to see me get married, and with determination she eventually kicked the dirty habit.

Maybe I can't speak for everyone when I say that cigarettes are the root of all evil. What I can say is that the earth is already in good supply of garbage, cigarettes literally smell like their "butts", and smoking is one of the leading causes of death. Is this a parallel to 'evil'? Who knows...