06 Feb The (Good?) Old Days: Part XIII – Smoking

Smoking was cool. Even after the Surgeon General said it is clearly deadly and causes cancer, etc. in 1964, it was still cool. At least back in the 70s and even some of the 80s. Why? Who knows. It was grown up. It seemed sophisticated. The biggest movie stars looked very glamorous with a cigarette dangling. Of course the media images and perception began to change at that point, and in the last 10-15 years smoking has been banned pretty much everywhere. So what was it like before the world of today?

We smoked. Everywhere. In cars, offices, restaurants, bars and movie theaters, airplanes, retail stores, you name it. My favorite part of getting a haircut was lighting up and talking to my friend Tito. I even smoked in the office of a children’s day camp I helped run all through college, even as kids came and went from the office. It was just everywhere. I always wondered how you smoked only in the rear of row 22 in the plane but somehow no one in row 21 and forward got second hand smoke. At least by my day there was no smoking in university classrooms.

My dad smoked cigars, even in the hospital where he was a surgeon, but only in the back offices, not in the exam or operating areas. My mom smoked through three pregnancies, which probably explains our challenged height. So it was even worse before the Surgeon General’s report. Truthfully, I liked smoking and still miss it. Cigarettes are magically both a stimulant and a relaxant. But it is of course a disgusting habit and incredibly dangerous, hence why I haven’t smoked in decades, having quit upon college graduation.

In my recent visits to China I was reminded of the old days, since there are virtually no smoking restrictions there. They smoke in the elevator, bathroom, everywhere. It reminded me how I liked smoking but hated other people’s smoke. So today, smokers are relegated to freeze 30 feet from building entrances or smoke at home (maybe). People should quit. I understand why they don’t. But overall I say, much better today for sure.