You would think that with all the information and ads out their telling us how bad smoking is for us that our generation would have smartened up by now. But no, there are still young smokers, inconsiderate smokers, and ignorant smokers. It is still seen as a bad girl/boy characteristic that has some level of attraction.

Why am I still seeing images like this that portray smoking as sexy? Why am I still hearing people talk about how attractive it is when someone buys a pack of smokes?

I get how older generations haven't learned to give up the disgusting habit, but not why my peers have not. Lets talk about why it is so not sexy.

It's another bill to pay to feed you addiction. our economy is not great and my generation is not exactly in a position to pay their bills, never mind to tack on another irresponsible one. It is what like $10.00 for a pack of cigarettes, and you buy between a pack and 7 a week. Honestly that adds up to more money that I budget myself for going out each week.

If you truly want to use the excuse that you are only hurting yourself not those around you, you must really enjoy freezing in the winter. People are more aware than ever how harmful second hand smoke really is. People don't usually want people smoking in their house, around their kids, in their car and home owners definitely do not want you smoking in the apartment you rent from them.

The cough isn't oh so sexy, neither is the taste of nicotine on your lips, or smell of smoke permanently stuck in your hair. We have all been shown a picture of black tar covered lungs at some point in our lives. We have all also seen commercials with people you suffer from throat caner with holes in their necks to breath. But even when people start coughing smoking their cigarettes they don't seem to get a bit scared.

Why bother talking about how not sexy it is when people can't even respect people who do get it. When we need signs like this we should know we have a society issue.

For some reason we still have ignorant smokers out there that you see smoking around kids, in apartments they were not asked to in, within a close distance to hospitals, and around non-smokers that express their choice to avoid 2nd hand smoke. Smokers neglect to realize that kids are too young to know that your choice is hurting them and speak out. Smokers neglect to realize that people that go to businesses may have asthma, be pregnant, or even have lung cancer. These people should not have to walk through your smoke to get to their public destinations. And my personal favorite example of ignorance - drive-thru smokers. If you can't smoke within 50 feet of a business what makes it safe to assume you can smoke 1 foot from the window? Because the worker serving you gets paid enough to subject themselves to your poison? Because your chances of triggering an asthma attack are as slim as you smelling gross all the time.