Prioritize

They want to ban smoking in all public places. Make it a criminal offence. A criminal offence like murder, rape, hijacking, theft. I can only assume that once the smoking law comes into action all the other crimes will be solved.

Children under eighteen years of age will apparently not be allowed into any store that sells cigarettes, like Pick 'n Pay, Engen, Hyperama. They won't even be able to have lunch at House of Coffees.

As a smoker, having strong feelings on the subject seems bias, but I can't help but think that there are more serious issues in the country to worry about. If the argument is that secondary smoke harms non-smokers, then why not put the effort into the termination of pollution? There are then thousand more cars on the highway each month, coughing out carbon monoxide which creeps its way into those ten thousand pairs of pink lungs. Should driving be illegal?

There are people who, aware of their HIV+ status, have unprotected sex, effectively giving the recipient a death sentence. These people are not put in jail for murder. There are people who have promiscuous unprotected sex and don't get tested for AIDS. Their fatal ignorance is excused. The Metro Police's underpaid employees turn a blind eye to the open fields, sprawled with cellphones, handbags, wallets and criminal vagrants. Of course I cannot overlook the sterling job they did at controlling this crisis by fashioning large signs reading "smash 'n grab hotspot", urging motorists to take care and implicitly do their job for them. At least now all the reprobates have clear rendezvous points.

Even as a smoker, I do sympathize with the non-smoking variety. I wish smoking was never invented, I wish I had never started. I tried to quit, it didn't work. The toxins, black lungs and pungent stench of my hair and fingers were just too tempting for me to give up, not to mention all that f**king gum. I am an addict. That's all there is to it. And if they make smoking illigal, I will still be an addict.

Of course, to be fair, we have a very considerate government. Considerate enough to state that the law will be attenuated for the 2010 World Cup, to make the tourists feel more at home. I heard on the radio this morning that a couple tourists were attacked, beaten and robbed as they arrived at their lodging. They must be really pleased that it's still legal for them to smoke after an ordeal like that!