0junk4me: I'm a smoker.

I smoked for about 35 years, climaxing in four packs a day. When I quit, it
was cold turkey and painless. If people smoke around me, I like it. I never
really believed the second-hand smoke thing, unless you work in a crowded bar.
But the thing that really sticks out in my mind is how many, many things seem
to bother everybody in the last decade or so. It happened somewhat gradually
and I don't think many people really realize how much more relaxed and tolerant
things used to be. You also mentioned political correctness. It's ironic that
political correctness was designed to produce tolerance, but it actually seems
to have the opposite effect, a very stifling effect. I don't know where you
live, but out here (Dupage county, Illinois) people are unbelievably paranoid.
No-one will even have one single drink or a beer for fear they will get a DUI
on their way home. In the 80's even, it wasn't like this. I have noticed that
people don't bond together like they used to in the past, they seem to just be
in a hurry to get home. I find it a strange strange world, one that I can't
really get used to. I wouldn't want to.