Smoking Bans and Other "Annoyances"

I want to state up front that I am not a smoker and never will be. I find it an unpleasant habit that I will never understand and there are times that it can be an annoyance. Apparently, Dallas Mayor Laura Miller found it an annoyance, too, when she and her daughter went out for dinner one night. The difference is that when she is annoyed, she can do something about it. Before the city knew it, they had a full-out smoking ban in all of their restaurants. I always thought that businesses had the right to make those kinds of decisions. Of course, there DO need to be some measures taken: separate "smoking" sections, some added ventilation systems, etc., to make sure that it does NOT become a health issue (no clouds of smoke billowing across your table as you eat), but in the end I would like to think that this "land of the free" left this decision to freedom: the freedom of patrons to choose to go to a restaurant or not, and the freedom of a business owner to have the kind of atmosphere he or she wants in their business.

If we all have the right to do away with things that are unhealthy and annoying in our eating establishments, then do you want to know what I find unhealthy and annoying? Children in buffet-style restaurants. If I were mayor, children under the age of 12 would be banned! I cannot count the number of times I have stood in line behind some small child as they SLOWLY made their way through the buffet. After seeing some sweet darling scratch their bottom or pick their nose, my stomach lurched as I watched them manhandle each dinner roll until they found just the right one. After finally finding some food that had not been contaminated with a million germs from a grubby hand, I began the journey to my table. This is where the real peril ensued. As I tried to keep my drink from sliding off my tray as I waddled along, a sweet little girl ran squealing, trying to get away from her brother. They both darted in front of me, causing me to stop on a dime, sloshing soda all over my new shirt. My mother, who has broken bones in previous falls at home, required a full compliment of body guards (us) to surround her as she made the dangerous journey. So, in my perfect world, young children would be tied to their chairs or sent to Chuck E. Cheese.

Is my point that I don't like children? Nope. I popped out two of those little critters myself and rearing them has been THE most important thing I will probably ever do. But one person's annoyance does not always deserve to be policy. And while it may be "fashionable" today to come down on smoking in the name of "health and welfare", I have to wonder what comes next? Will they start weighing me on a scale at the front of the restauraunt and select the size of my plate based on my number? Before you think I am crazy, remember that New York has now told its restaurants they cannot use trans-fats, and many other places are following suit. I've always thought it odd that if I want to go out and have indiscriminant sex or an abortion on demand, then it is "my body, my choice", but if I want to throw down an order of hot, yummy french fries then I need the government to protect my body from my choice. Does it really go both ways?

If you are someone who hates cigarette smoke, then you have won a victory. For today. But remember, today's smoking ban might become tomorrow's ban on something you like that some smoker finds annoying.