A stinky smoker's lament

This afternoon, I went out for a smoke by the driveway.

A lot of children were running around on one side and the parents were on the other side.

Then, these two well-dressed beautiful girls came over, with their little hands grabbing their nose walking closer and closer to my direction and saying to their well-educated-looking parents...

"Someone smoking. It stinks."

I stood there with a head not working to well... looking at them continuing what they were doing while the adults standing aside.

The kids stood there.. perhaps moving closer towards me... not even quite sure…

I saw what they were doing with their nose and heard the words with their angelic voices.

At some point, I must have turned over to see the adults...

Finally, I guess it was the father who made this comment, "I don't know what they are teaching the children nowadays."

Yet, the scene seemed to freeze at that frame for quite a while... with their little hands on their nose and their repeating the comments about the smoke.

It was almost about a century later when I finally heard that male figure made another comment, "Why do you keep on walking towards the lady if you don't like the smell."

It was not until later did I realize that I was in shock throughout the whole time... and it was not until much much later did I come to understand why I was in shock.

As I finally moved further away from these children and adults and found myself absolutely baffled by what I had just experienced.

Granted, smoking is nothing to good and exposing other people to second hand smoking is nothing noble. Yet, throughout these years, I have grown to have the feeling that the smokers have turned into some kind of minority population.... It is the kind of minority population that is socially acceptable to be stoned to death in public. 8-O lol sigh ( ok, dramatization and exaggerations to spice the writing up.)

It is my atheoretical belief that these children had been taught to react the way they reacted.

Yet, what really shocked me was the reaction or the modeling of the adults.

Rethinking what was first said, "I don't know what they teach the children nowadays" and the parents' allowing their children to continue doing whatever they were doing...

Aren't parents supposed to be the primary care givers that teach their children to have manners, to pay respects to the others and to provide guidance when appropriate? Also, what kind of modeling are they giving to the children? Whoever go against my value and judgment should be stoned?

Or, have we come back to an era when it has become again all that OK for the minorities have no say and should be smart enough to move themselves out of the way in order to avoid... what you might called... what shall befall?

Such concludes a stinky smoker's lament. lol

(Well, at least this gives me something else to be talking about... lol)