The Smell of Freedom

I could go on and on and on about this topic almost endlessly. But i just stunbled upon a state more free than colorado. I went strolling for a park to take a nap. Unfortunately I found a park that memorialized a civil war battle, hardly a symbol of freedom, but rather oppression. I promptly found a shady spot to lay my head. Upon ending my 25 minute slumber, I whip out my iPhone to find me another watering hole. On arrival, the barkeep promptly introduces himself with a firm and welcoming handshake. In return for his name, I politely give him mine. In fact, this was almost the exact same routine Titus the bartender at the Corner Tavern did.

I tasted a Dunkel and then changed my mind to something with a little more charge, a Red Bull vodka. As I got up to go release a couple of the Yuenglings from earlier, a man approached the bar looking to temporarily take posession of a nearby ashtray. It was something I hadn't seen In a long time, but failed to take note. In fact, before I sat down I asked if I was taking the seats of a fellow patron who left chairs pulled out in front of an ashtray with butts in it. The young man who sought out the ashtray headed back to his table where a girl sitting across from him was. She sat in a small cloud of exhaled smoke combined with a stream of smoke slowly wafting up from her lit cigarette.

It was then I actually noticed the smell of cigarette smoke in the bar. Oh what it must be like to in invite over whomever you choose and participate in consenting activities. If it were candles, sushi, boxing, alcohol, or any other substance or activity, the people in the establishment are excercising their rights to freedom of speech, association or assembly, and above all else, private property rights. Their bodies are their own ultimate sanctuary and they may do with it
whatever they please. If someone doesn't care to be a part of it, they have the freedom to choose their own associations and places to assemble, without forcing their will above that of the owner of the establishment.

Second hand smoke is the smell of freedom. When you aren't afforded the opportunity to be exposed to things you may not agree with, there are likely people who have had their rights violated because someone else thought they had the same rights of association or assembly that were more important than another's. When Someone is willing to sacrafice another rights in favor of their own, in my opinion, they have disowned all access to their own rights forever and without exception. All it takes is time and a persistant beaurocracy.

From my iPhone....