Up until recently, I have been on the bandwagon to make smokers pay for all of the polluted air, the lighting up of a cigarette in a restaurant or near my children, and the absurdity of driving by a hospital (the refuge of all things healthy) and witness a dozen doctors and nurses standing outside smoking. Smoking will harm you, cut your life short, and slowly destroy various parts of your body. The packs come with giant warning labels and the prices for packs are becoming outrageous (how many smokers need to quit nowadays, simply because they can no longer afford it?).

How many house fires and forest fires have been carelessly started by a smoldering cigarette? How many lives lost or cut short because of the lingering health problems associated with smoking? How many times have you seen an attractive woman (or man) walk down the street and you say to yourself 'wow, she's got it together....' Then she lights up a cigarette and the whole scene turns ugly....I am on the bandwagon that says smoking is bad. Smoking should be banned in hospitals, restaurants, and shops.

But, now we have gone too far. In a recent film preview, I saw the following words on the preview page where we see what the film is rated: "PG-13 for sexual content, smoking, and language". Let me repeat. The movie is being rated for scenes containing "sexual content, smoking, and language." Are you kidding me? Distancing my lungs from smoke is one thing, but distancing myself from art that may have smoking references or smoking scenes is something else. And what about the recent study saying that obesity is just as harmful, potentially more harmful than smoking? (see also the NPR story entitled "Obesity Trumps Smoking as America's Health Burden")

Can you imagine sitting in the theatre with your jumbo size popcorn filled with obscene amounts of trans fat with a gigantic size diet coke to wash it down when suddenly the film preview on the screen says: "Rated PG-13 for sexual content, strong language, and obesity"? Are we seriously headed for a day when our movies may be judged on their public health concerns? Maybe we can have a film that reads: "rated R for graphic violence, smoking, obesity, and unprotected sexual content". Perhaps, we can be entertained by a film that reads: "rated PG-13 for sensuality, language, and bathroom scenes with unwashed hands."

I have tried smoking and it didn't produce empathy nor solidarity for me in relationship to those addicted. But, now the Motion Picture Association of America has taken the persecution of the smoker too far and for the first time I now stand with my brothers and sisters who feel the need to light up. Sure, smokers pollute themselves and the world around them, but can't they at least watch a movie in peace?

-bo