The editor:
I’d like to respond to a couple of articles in the newspaper and make a couple of personal observations. I visited my local doctor the other day, which happens to be part of the St. Claire Medical dynasty, and I noticed a sign declaring, “We are proud to announce that this facility has become smoke-free.” I think St. Claire should not be proud but should be ashamed and embarrassed by the prejudicial way it is treating some of its clients. The town of Morehead shares in their guilt with the laws regarding smoking it passed in recent months. (I haven’t eaten downtown since they passed the law.)
Apparently society isn’t satisfied unless the rights of some segment of it can be insulted, demonized and discriminated against. This discriminatory mentality can be easily understood by changing the words “smoke-free” to “whites only.” The sad part of it is that these decisions are based on fear and ignorance, not medical fact, because it has never been proven that second-hand smoke is harmful to anybody. While it may be an annoying odor to some and can admittedly affect an asthmatic person these are the only proven negative aspects of second-hand smoke.
This only proves the idea that George Orwell tried to get across in his book, “1984”. If you repeat something often enough, people will begin to believe it to be true even if it is not the truth. I see by another article in the paper that they are even teaching this nonsense in the elementary schools but I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise because they teach evolution as scientific fact and it has never gone beyond the theoretical stage either. I also can’t believe that someone wrote a letter about people smoking outside a school and was concerned about the effects of outdoor second-hand smoke. This is absolute nonsense. Outdoor second-hand smoke has zero affect on non¬smokers beyond the momentary annoyance of passing through the cloud.
If our local institutions are allowed to get away with these type of actions in the name of the “public good” other freedoms will be next. I can see the new announcement now... “All fat people will not be allowed to drive their cars to this medical facility. For your own good we believe you should walk here!” One sign you won’t see is... “due to all the traffic fatalities, all automobiles will no longer be allowed in our parking spaces,” which to me would make more sense then taking away the freedoms our soldiers are dying for.
It’s time our medical facilities realize that prevention is not their business, treatment is. Prevention should be at the discretion of the patient. If they ask for preventive help, fine, but it shouldn’t be legislated. When I go to the doctor, I don’t want him telling me all kinds of things not to do, I want him to say, “Here, this will fix you up!” No matter how hard the medical field tries, it will not stop death from occurring. It is a basic principal of life. People will always die, if not from smoking, diabetes, heart attacks or auto accidents then from something else. Social Security would go bankrupt far sooner if no one died. Death isn’t the enemy, it’s just the second act of life.
Ronald Shephard
Morehead
