Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em – Away From Me

As anybody who has been assaulted by secondhand smoke while exiting a subway or walking on a sidewalk knows, the city can go much further. A total smoking ban on public sidewalks, or perhaps a campaign to get smokers to look behind them before lighting up, is in order.

I could not agree more. There is nothing quite like skipping down the street in a dreamy haze of how wonderful it is to be outside, enjoying your day, when all of a sudden you slam into a poisonous cloud of someone’s lethal fumes and you are left retching and gasping for air.

When I was in the process of quitting smoking, I swore that I wouldn’t turn into one of those self-righteous ex-smokers. But nay! I am as self-righteous as one can possibly be. Smoke at home, not in my face!

Schism Shmism

Western religions are beginning to schism left, right, and centre about the left right and centre. There are the Anglicans who may divide in two over the acceptance of same-sex marriage. In Judaism, the Rabbis of the Conservative Movement voted recently as to whether to accept gay rabbis; even though the vote failed, they still said that being gay isn’t as bad as they used to say it was. Meanwhile in Reform Judaism, same-sex marriage has been around for years.

More recently, the Catholic Church has been showing cracks as the more liberal members and the conservative elements are becoming increasingly vocal. Recently, congregants in a St. Paul, Minnesota church protested peacefully during the Sacrement. My knowledge of Catholicism is limited to having to memorise the order of the Mass in Music History class, but I seem to recall that the Sacrement is a pretty big deal.

And then there is that Church in North Carolina that equated good and evil and the right to attend that church on how one voted.

Religion is a great unifier. It has the power to reach the lives of many individuals in a much more meaningful way than anything we have come up with in the West to replace it, like TV or the Internet. Instead of fracturing, I wish the various elements would work together.

But then again, what I really mean by “work together” is “do exactly what I want them to do”. I suppose it won’t happen anytime soon.