This is not a confession, it is a fact. I am a smoker and to be quiet honest, I am currently puffing away as I sit here typing this article. The reason I am doing so is that at the moment there is a lot of controversy over when and where a person can smoke while in public.

My personal choice is that when in public, if there are no smoking signs, I simply do not smoke. Every one has that option. If your on a diet, you don't eat fast food, if your scared of the water, you don't go swimming, for me its just that simple. Living in the state of Nevada, however it has become a major deal concerning people who smoke.

I must say that I truly do not think it is up to anyone, other than the owner of a business to determine if someone should be able to smoke or not within the confines of their place of business. Those who seek to push their way into a business and tell an owner how it should be run are just trying to inflict their controlling nature onto someone else.

There are a lot of people who think smoking is unhealthy. My opinion of this is do you really care what I do as long as it in no way affects you? I would say that about 99% of the people in this world could care less of what I do as long as it does not directly affect them in any way. The other 1% are the controllers of the world and to be honest, their opinion means jack to me. I abide by the rules they sit down and until smoking becomes illegal than I will most likely continue to puff away to my little hearts content.

The recent tax increase, I must admit, has given me a moment of pause. A Lot less than most people might think! The way I see it is this, by smoking I give more than most to the schools, health care providers, businesses and other local charities that get money from every pack that I buy. I keep at least one worker employed at the tobacco company as well as the distribution company and the local store that I make my purchase at, so tell me why in this economy that my smoking is truly a bad thing. Oopps! I nearly forgot, since I make my purchase at an Indian reservation market place, then I contribute to the Native Americans as well.

You are all probably wondering just what the point of this article is, In a nutshell, I am simply trying to point out, that even though I do smoke, I respect those that do not. I don't stand outside the local grocery store puffing away, inflicting my second hand smoke on the non-smokers who walk in and out, I don't go to a local resturant and light up disturbing those who are trying to eat. I don't encourage the youth of today to start smoking, and if anyone asks, It is not something I would do if I could not afford to do so.

I have read many articles yammering on about tax increases, how it's unhealthy, how I should quit and most recently on all the benefits of quitting. I admire those people who write all this stuff, they are truly talented and should get an award, however they tend to forget one little tiny hardly ever mentioned fact in all their articles. That one fact is this, until a person who smokes or over eats, or drinks themselves into oblivion every single day, is truly motivated to quit their own personal vice, then nothing, no pills, no articles or any other thought up device will motivate that person to quit.

A bit of advice to those who are trying to encourage others to stop smoking....Stop. If you feel the need to say something, simply tell that person you care about them and wish they would stop and only tell them once. Trust me on this, no one who smokes wants a cigarette more than when someone is nagging them about not smoking anymore.