News item: Carnival conducts an experiment to ban smoking in more areas of its ships.
This, if you’ll pardon the expression, is a hot one. For people who smoke, being deprived of their right to do so can enrage them. For people who don’t smoke, being subjected to the loss of fresh air (among other things) can enrage them.
We have been on both sides, except for the enraged part. We used to smoke, a long time ago. That makes us reformed smokers, or born-again non-smokers, which immediately seems to brand us as having no tolerance for people and cigarettes or cigars.
We try to exercise tolerance. As smokers, we never realized how unpleasant our habit was to others. The smell, the cloud of ash, the health hazards that in those days were just a rumor. Having been there, we realize it’s not easy for people to quit even if they want to, so we try to cut them a little slack.
In return, we expect a little understanding about why we sometimes feel violated by smoke. It’s not holier-than-thou, nor bragging because we quit. There will always be a place for smokers, because there will always be smokers, so the word should be “compromise.” Like, in specified open areas of the deck, okay. On balconies, not okay.
Carnival’s experiment is a foregone conclusion: There will be smoking. This cruise line probably knows it better than any. A previous non-smoking test on a ship (the Paradise) died in the water after two years because of profits, or lack of same. The same thing happens to non-smoking areas in casinos everywhere and, unless it’s been legislated otherwise, in bars.
There just aren’t enough of us who like cruising and casinos…and who don’t smoke.