The anti-tobacco law caused an uproar among smokers. Which is quite predictable. But not entirely fair, says Nikolai Kryshchuk, an experienced smoker.
Smokers are offended*. Deep and intimate. I don’t know what else could have so annoyed these stern and touching people who knew a moment of joyless bliss alone with a cigarette. Or, on the contrary, in a friendly feast under the cheerful clicking of lighters. No wonder the last request of the convict is a cigarette. In the last minute of life, only she will help to be with all relatives and relatives, to focus on the main thing.
The cigarette ignites the memory. Do you remember the famous “Kurochek” by Yuz Aleshkovsky: “From the Kolyma white hell we went to a zone in frosty smoke, I noticed a cigarette butt with red lipstick and rushed out of order to him”? And all the war memories and songs! Yes, and modern authors and performers in the lyrical intensity of the conversation about the unifying role of the puff, its communicative function are not inferior to the former. From “But if there is a pack of cigarettes in your pocket” by Viktor Tsoi to “We sat and smoked” by Spleen.
This is our national tradition. Do you understand what you’ve done? As always, it didn’t start there. Don’t we have enough really serious problems?
I hear conversations like this almost every day. Their expansive pathos and excitement, I confess, surprised me a lot.
I myself am a smoker. Some at the same time add (for some reason proudly): with experience. Of course, the new decree brought discomfort into my life as well. Smoking vestibules are disappearing on trains, smoking rooms have already been canceled in cafes, and hotels forbid smoking even in their own suites. This is a challenge.
Some experts argue that the harm from tobacco is greatly exaggerated, and even more so the harm from passive smoking. I don’t know, I’m not an expert. With vein disease, smoking is not only dangerous, but deadly. And such cases an experienced doctor will surely name more than one. But even without it, I understand that smoking is an obvious, partly even ridiculous atavism.
Brothers, I would like to say that all the teachings of the world call upon a person to rise above his interests and habits at certain moments. And this is just that simple, difficult, yes, although not pathetic case. Let’s be level.
I respect your affection and, due to certain circumstances, I cannot urge you to give up the harmful and sweet habit. But if society wants to abandon it, grumbling looks unsympathetic.
I want to give, I don’t know, a story or a legend about Joseph Brodsky. He was known to be a passionate smoker. He knew that with his heart disease, every puff brought death closer. So it eventually happened: Brodsky died at 56 years old. It was his decision. The poet not only considered a cigarette a part of comfort (morning coffee, a cigarette), but he was also sure that tobacco helps the work of thought and imagination. It is unlikely that this is confirmed scientifically, but subjective beliefs do not require it.
And in Atlanta, a few months before the start of the Olympic Games, Nobel laureates in literature were invited to speak. And then Brodsky found out that smoking is prohibited everywhere in Atlanta. I respect the state rules, he said, but unfortunately I have to back out. Without a cigarette, my thought and speech do not work. As a sign of solidarity, all other members of the group also refused to perform. Then (almost at the direction of the president) Brodsky was allowed to smoke, but … only for the duration of the performance. Everything about this story is great. And the solidarity of the laureates, and the noble concession of power. But above all, Brodsky declared respect for the current rules.
As for national traditions… Not all of them need holy protection. People tend to poetize their past. I remember with what warmth my father spoke about his front-line comrades. Like in a song, with tears in my eyes. And this brotherhood was accompanied by a cigarette, and the famous hundred grams (quite conditional: they drank more). Thus, the ritual habits were, as it were, charged with romantic remembrance and turned into a lofty and indispensable symbol of the brotherhood itself. This happens all the time, both in personal and historical destiny. But after all, for the first time, young people smoke not at all on the wave of such nostalgia, but following the example, on the basis of general acceptance, with the encouragement of society, thanks to the symbolism of cinema, in particular.
I do not urge to remove Stirlitz or Rumyantsev performed by Batalov from the screens. That would be foolish and useless zeal. But let new generations still grow up in an atmosphere where smoking will cease to be an indispensable attribute of masculinity.
- Get ready to quit smoking
*On June 1, 2013, the “anti-tobacco law” came into force, according to which it is forbidden to smoke in public places.