I thought I could, I really did.
I had promised myself this was going to be a battle I will refuse to take part
in. But I’ve had it! I feel provoked! And damn it, I should be!
Stop trying to deny me every
little pleasure I have left in this godforsaken country. Stop trying to deprive
me from one of the few - and I mean few when I say it - things I still get to enjoy
in the grimmest of the so called green nations.
Do you remember how I kept silent
when you tore down the beautiful old buildings in my neighborhood and built
your ugly centers instead? Do you remember the way I kept my mouth shut when you
sealed the bad meat file as if nothing had ever happened? Can you recall the
way I didn’t utter a word the day you decided to just forget about the civil
marriage file?
I didn’t choose the above cases randomly.
Those happen to be three of the many, many cases which were, in my opinion,
used by our devious government to distract a predisposed people from much more
important and relevant issues that were eating our country up, and still are.
Those subjects were magnified in
the public’s eye for a given period before they lost their value. I love my
memory of the few months during which you all religiously wore your seat-belts while
dodging a ticket instead of an accident, just love it. I still quite enjoy
myself and snicker a bit every time you pass a roadblock and buckle up 2 feet
away from it, only to free yourselves again just 2 other feet ahead of the
checkpoint. Sensational for a nation; hypocrites roaming the streets and
pretending they want a European lifestyle, pretending their aim is to bring
this country forward, claiming they are sick with the situation as it is. Shame
on people who wouldn’t dare as much as flick their cigarette’s ashes from the
car’s window in any other country while they take some sort of pride throwing
whole garbage bags out of their houses’ windows in Lebanon. I pity my
motherland when I know for a fact that only the poor and the weak will be
suffering from nicotine withdrawal symptoms while the rich and the powerful will
terrorize any policeman who would think of attempting to get his ticket
book out in order to write them up for smoking their luscious cigarettes. Isn’t
it just merely funny when you think about it?
You know I am 100% right when I
predict that almost every individual involved in the matter will be on the take
from bar and restaurant owners to let them run their places smoothly. You know
I am more than correct when I expect a huge economical shudder due to this
hasty decision. You know for a fact that while you and I might comply because
we can’t afford 90$ tickets over cigarettes, Abou Koko and Abou Ahmad will
simply beat down any, yes any person who might try to ask them to take their
smoking outside. Funny, super funny!
I am writing all of this down
tonight not only to express my dismay over the smoking ban effective as of
September the 3rd, but also to pour my blame over a nation that is
relentless when it comes to disappointing me on every possible level.
For everyone who is so ecstatic about
the smoking ban on health basis, I urge you to read up on lung cancer’s
relation to cigarettes. Although the two may be connected, smoking isn’t the
direct or the sole cause for the sickness, and in case you aren’t aware of it
yet, toxins you inhale from running cars and from highly health conservative
electricity plants are much more harmful to your lungs than your friends’
smoking.
For the people who were quick to
judge this ban as a “civilized” move, I would like to point out that no move,
no matter how highly symbolic and effective it may be to you, can be described
as such in a country that forces its gay community to undergo shameful tests under
claims of “protective and preventative measurements”. May you also kindly note
that, once again, this is yet another deceitful move taken by our dear
government to distract us from issues that truly matter.
And to those of you whose
adrenaline just notably rose up on the mention of the gay tests as not being of
major importance, please do not get me wrong; this is actually a subject that
advocates my cause. And you do have a right to wonder what my cause really is
after all the jabbering that I just made you read through. For those who are
still reading, my cause goes as follows:
No matter who you are, no matter
where you are, you are entitled to act however you wish to act, the right to be
however you wish to be, the right to do whatever it is you wish to do in any
manner you see fit, all as long as you are not stepping on anybody’s toes while
at it.
Are you a non smoker who is sick
of having to inhale every “uncivilized” person’s smoke in this place? Why not
call for a movement that satisfies both parties by creating smoking and non
smoking corners in every place? That is a lot more refined than judging and
labeling people who dare differ in their habits as uncivilized.
Actually, come to think of it, it
is going to be a lot more uncivilized and coarse, harsh even, to send all those
smokers to sweat under the burning summer sun (which could be a factor in
causing skin cancer for all I know – since smoking can be a factor in causing
lung cancer), or to freeze under the overflowing winter rain (hey, that could
seriously cause lung diseases!).
I haven’t written that many lines
in ages, I am really getting worked up about this topic. But please note that the
upcoming sentences aren’t meant to try and draw the reader’s pity or sympathy
for that matter, in any way, but governmental conspiracies and civism lessons
aside, I love smoking. As I have emphasized multiple times before in this blog,
my cigarette is my companion, it is somehow part of my hand, an irrevocable
part of who I am, of what I represent in my society. It is hard for some people
to imagine me not holding a cigarette; sometimes it is hard for me to imagine
it as well. And if you think that quitting smoking would be beneficial for my
health, think again. If you think that once I at least cut down on my smoking I
will be running up stairs, also think again. Smoking a cigarette has kept me from
going insane many a time, it has prevented me from feeling totally and utterly
abandoned more times than I care – or dare - to count. My mental health, which
is questionable I admit, matters a lot more to me than my physical one, which
will deteriorate one way or another, one day or another, for one reason or
another. A cigarette joins together the beginning and the end of any creative
process for me as well. With all due respect to my fellow non smokers, try
smoking and you just may – emphasize on may – become as good as I am someday :P
