During a recent trip to Aruba, I was stunned by how many of you—who spent the money to go somewhere with a stunning view—were willing to cloud that view with your own smoke screen. While smoking is your prerogative, you should consider a few things before you decide to unleash your pungent habit on the rest of us who came to enjoy the fresh air and the Caribbean trade winds.

Fun fact: just because you can smoke, it doesn’t mean that you have to smoke. While it’s one thing to go down to the Jersey shore and dodge the inevitable smokers, no one wants to pay a significant amount of money for a Caribbean vacation only to feel trapped on a windy day by the unbearable odor. Still, many of you will argue that it is an open space and therefore, you are legally within your right to smoke. You’re correct. However, I’m less concerned with the legality of your actions than I am with the morality of them. Consider a novel concept: you’re not the only person on the beach. You’re under the same false impression that we all want to inhale your secondhand smoke as those who blast their music in public spaces are under the false impression that we all share an interest in their musical choices. Although your decision to smoke has greater ramifications, both scenarios come back to your simple lack of common courtesy.

Another reality to consider: there are children all around you and people who have breathing related issues that you are affecting. Your decision to think solely of your own interests is a sobering reminder that we live an egocentric society that revolves around the notion of “me first; to hell with others.” Moreover, if those of us who are non-smokers don’t find your cigarettes appealing on the beach, it is safe to say that they don’t suddenly become more appealing in the sea itself. Additionally, the same applies to your cigars. I’m still stunned by the people who brought cigars into the sea as if it wasn’t a ridiculous notion. For your own sake, give your lungs—and the rest of us who went in the water to avoid the smoke—a break.

Lastly, and this is directed to the group from Staten Island who became known to my family as ‘The Cancer Cluster;’ consider your own health if you won’t consider ours. You always seemed to be in our vicinity on the beach and I urge you to consider the reality that you may not be around for many more vacations if you continue your chain smoking. It seemed like every time you were finishing one cigarette, you were preparing for your next and at risk of sounding ‘holier than thou’—that is no way to live.

As far as I’m concerned, anyone who decides to smoke on any beach is inconsiderate. Under certain circumstances, like the one my family and I experienced in Aruba, it isn’t possible to move to a different location since we had reserved and paid for a specific hut to avoid the strong rays of sun. Next time you decide to light another cigarette, you should consider the context—you are not in your own home, so don’t treat your surroundings as if they were your own. Let those around you enjoy the fresh air like they planned on doing without feeling like they need another vacation simply to get away from you and your smoke.