Ernst Williams     Running With Scissors There's something really fun about the feeling of righteous indignation i get whenever someone has the audacity to suggest that something I do is bad, because it's dangerous, or unhealthy, or something else along those lines. "Yes, and -- ?" Many things are unhealthy. Others are dangerous. The problem is, these same things tend to be fun, and that's why I do them. Before I go further, I am not advocating going out and doing things that would endanger oneself or anyone else. Then again, many of my fondest memories and most of my favorite stories are the result of acting on what sane (or sober) people might call bad ideas. While these exploits are often much more fun in recounting than they were when I was actually doing them, they have given me a wealth of unclear memories and expanded stories. For some reason, people react to these stories by asking, What were you thinking? They follow that with a remark on how dangerous it was. If I had stopped to worry about the danger, I would have never gotten to do it. Just this winter I got a chance to do one of these dangerous things, when I went to the Everglades to do some kayaking and see some 'gators. My getting down there, and the paddling I did to see them, is another story involving acting on 'bad ideas,' but that also turned out fine. Anyway, my friend and I decided to paddle into a narrow little passage that might have been four feet wide. Once we slipped in, we couldn't see any alligators, but we could hear them splashing into the water, and even heard the guttural clicking noise they make. It was uncomfortable, even frightening at times, but exhilarating. I've told this story a couple of times, and more than once I got the feeling that the other person thought I was crazy to get in a situation like that. It was too 'dangerous.' It's natural and smart to consider the danger of any action, but some people take it too far. Every day I read about how smoking greatly endangers your health. Okay, I just look at the headlines, and I don't even notice the Surgeon General's warning. I would hope that the Surgeon General would have something better to do than inform us that sucking hot smoke into our lungs is bad for us. But people still do it, even when they know it causes cancer, emphysema, bloodshot eyes, a hacking cough, whatever. We are inundated with discoveries about the next new carcinogen, and I, along with a lot of people, stopped caring after we found out that the sun is bad for you. Other people obsess about all of this new information, and you can see them on the beach, under the big umbrella, fully clothed in a big hat. They are, I should mention, not smoking. They read books and stay away from the water, where a shark might get them. It's not my place to tell them how to live their lives, though. I do wish they would return the favor sometimes, and recognize that people smoke, and that this decision is theirs. I recently read an article, whining about how the tobacco companies and smokers are putting a large burden on taxpayers. The solution to this lies on the bottom of any pack of cigarettes. There are two little stamps to say that the state and city have taxed these, and don't think the federal government isn't taxing them. I don't intend to defend the tobacco companies; they're still rolling in money. The notion that non-smokers shouldn't have to pay for smoker's health care costs doesn't really apply, but vegetarians might be interested. Why should their Medicare taxes be spent on someone's Gusburger-induced heart surgery? People base their lifestyles on their own preferences and priorities and promises of pleasure. Not everyone wants to avoid temporal enjoyments to preserve their future health. They decide to smoke and enjoy that nice feeling a cigarette gives, and they hope it doesn't hurt them any time soon, or better yet, never. Smoking won't necessarily give you cancer, nor will lying in the sun, but both these things involve future risks for present gifts. I'm not trying to tell you that you should make that late night trip to Swannanoa, but I am telling you to enjoy things, without worrying what they might do to you.

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