Let's celebrate all the people who lived fine lives .

[spacelady]

Even though they smoked.

[AuntPatsy]

1. My grandfather, age ninety two, he lived a fine and full life.

[spacelady]

2. Yes, thanks, my Mom is 78 & going strong.

I am not advocating, just trying to point out that there is a balance to all things in life and it is unseemly to be so disparaging to those who make the choice to smoke.

[uppityperson]

3. They just said he relapsed after 9/11

Good lives. Good people

[spacelady]

5. Can you blame him? I would feel the same.

[seabeyond]

4. thanks all for this thread. means a lot for a lot of different

reasons

my dad
my mom

[medeak]

6. Peter Jennings smoked with style

remember the old days when satellite tv just came out and you saw all the commercial breaks of shows (with no commercials?) Will never forget Jennings pulling out the most lovely long cig holder and taking an elegant inhale during the break. Felt like I was back in the 20's... god rest his soul.

[really annoyed]

7. Kick

[Cats Against Frist]

8. My grampa -- Lived to age 90.

Of course, he had a couple of debilitating strokes, in his 70s, and lost the use of his right arm.


So, he smoked with his left hand.

Unfiltered Camels for 75 years.

[spacelady]

9. It would be a shame to discount Mr. Jennings accomplishments

by the way he died. I have a hard time with that.

[Bluebear]

14. No one is questioning his accomplishments, spacelady

They are suggesting he was gone too soon!

[spacelady]

17. I know, but we hear the stories about

the reformed alcoholic who was killed by a drunk driver. The cause of death should not overshadow the celebration of one's life; I am sure that is not how someone would prefer to be remembered.

[Bluebear]

18. I agree, smoking does not make you a bad person

Heck when Peter started, when I started "everyone smoked". The drug is too strong and the tobacco lobby too into our government to stop it. I really do believe, however, that people are grieving Jenning's early death and not villianizing him. To give anecdotal stories that someone is "90 and smoked all their life" only tells younger smokers that the odds are worth the risk.

[spacelady]

19. Oh yes, I hear ya Bluebear & can agree with you

but the reason I started this is because smokers have been ostrasized & backed into so many corners that maybe a modicum of dignity can be spared when a death occurs without the nannies coming out and telling us how naughty it is.

[Bluebear]

20. 'the nannies'

LOL I hear you. I quit but still struggle with it. Nothing irks me more than when people say "well, they did it to themselves". They don't understand.

[spacelady]

21. You are one of the good ones!

[Bluebear]

22. I am what you think I am.

LOL

:toast:

[seabeyond]

16. the dismissing of all a person is, because......they smoked.

you are right. he had a grand life, lots of love, lots of experience. period

[charlie]

10. Bette Davis

Took shit from nobody, became a star in spite of her refusal to be a Hollywood glamor girl, died at 81.

[spacelady]

11. I loved her! "What a Dump"!

[MissMarple]

12. My stepdad. Here's to you, sweetheart.

:toast: You were a good dad to me.

[kestrel91316]

13. My dad, gone too soon.

My dad was a career Air Force officer, highly decorated in Viet Nam. Unlike the typical military dad, he was soft-spoken and gentle, sympathetic to the downtrodden, as religious as my cats, and very much a feminist. When he was 16 he started smoking (it was THE thing to do in the 1940s). As a child I recall him smoking Salems, but he quit when the Surgeon General's report came out (he said he always felt crappy in the morning when he smoked, and the report confirmed his suspicions that it was an unhealthy thing to do) so my recollections of his smoking are faint.

In the late 1960s he volunteered for a year in Viet Nam, flew 50-60 very hazardous missions, and received among other things the Distinguished Flying Cross. The base where he was stationed in Thailand was kept defoliated with Agent Orange.

In 1979 he developed a persistent pain in his side, and 6 months later his military physicians discovered the reason: advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma with extensive metastasis throughout his body. They gave him 6 months to live.

My father was not one to give up easily. He endured radiation and chemo, and even bought marijuana from the neighboring high school kid to help with his misery (on the advice of his military doctor). It took this man in the prime of his life 8 months to die. In March of 1980, at the ripe old age of 47 and when I was only 23, my father passed away - one more victim of Big Tobacco and/or Agent Orange.

I have never smoked, nor has my sister. And neither of us supports war.

[spacelady]

15. Damn, he sounds like a great guy, struck down too soon.

He was a hero, and they need people like him in Heaven.

[kestrel91316]

23. Yeah..................but we sure could have used him here on Earth, too .