I'm Thinking of Claiming Minority Status As a Non-Smoker in South Carolina

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My youngest daughter is a self-taught artist and she has a flare for quickly whipping out comical cartoon style pictures.

Ever since moving to South Carolina; I feel like I've gone back in a time machine to the 60s when everyone smoked and they smoked everywhere.  

My mom used to barricade herself in the bathroom in the morning with a pack of cigarettes, a cup of coffee and the telephone and the daily crossword puzzle.

She would puff and sip away while she gossiped on the phone in bliss.

People smoked in the grocery stores back then.  

I remember men stocking shelves at the local A&P and they were smoking.  They didn't have to go stand outside in the cold...although they did that as well...because they could smoke almost literally everywhere.

The thing I just recently noticed here in South Carolina is that not only do most people smoke...but they smoke a lot...and those that have been smoking most of their lives...well, they have that "look" and that "sound" about them.

I've never smoked my whole life.  

I've done other things, but I've never smoked.

My brothers and I used to throw away our parents carton of cigarettes and we knew we were "in for it", but we hated the smoking so much that we didn't care what punishment awaited us when they found out.

I am very shocked at how many people smoke...not only because of the negative effect it has on their health, but also because of the cost and because it makes them stink and because they are obnoxious to work around because they are always on the verge of a bad mood while they wait for their next fix and so many have adopted bad twitching habits which they may not even realize they have because their body is beginning the withdrawal process.

I came home from the store the other day and told my daughter that as I pulled up to a red traffic light...I noticed in the lane next to me that every single car....maybe 8 in a row...had their windows either slightly or all the way rolled down and they had two fingers out the window...clutching a cigarette with wafts of smoke blowing out.

I told her it exemplified a major aspect of South Carolina and I needed to have her sketch out a quick picture for me. 

So, she did.

I like the little touch where she added the dog out the window with a cigarette as well.  

I'll have to see what these candidates think of granting us non-smokers in South Carolina Minority Status and all the perks that go along with such a distinction!