birthday smoke

For my birthday I wanted to give myself a giant sloth, but it was not possible, so I burned a leaf of sage and enjoyed the way the smoke made the currents in the air visible, currents that danced and twisted with hypnotic eloquence. These little clouds we make teach us about the grace of impermanence and the untraceable workings of the unseen.

I know many abuse the strong medicine Tobacco smoke offers, but I was a little struck by legislation recently introduced in NYC to ban smoking in parks and beaches. Some see it as merciful, but I feel uneasy about a government that revokes the rights of its citizens unnecessarily. Banning smoking in a restaurant or bar makes perfect sense to me as a protection of rights, but seriously, there's enough air out there for everyone, isn't there, or will sanctimony rule the day? Will we one day ban the most dangerous thing of all, life itself, and imperfection? I agree addiction is unfortunate but people shouldn't be forced out of it by government (although caring friends should give it a try if the situation gets dire.) I also hazard a guess that this public harassment will target people too poor to own private terraces and roof gardens to light up on, or to relax on property upstate.