by Englishman 21 Replies latest jw friends
Would I bake a cake for an overweight friend? A bottle of vino for a friend who is ever so fond of the drink? A lottery ticket for a friend who likes to gamble? A bottle of Elmer's for a glue sniffing freak?
I love the moral highground. Every time I take it, it elevates me just a wee bit higher than those who wear their weaknesses on their sleeves!
When I was in Russia I purchased several packs of Russian cigarettes for my co-workers who smoke. They smoked them, but the Russian tobacco was so bad that it almost made them give up smoking.
I feel exactly the same as E-man. I don't have any friends that smoke, but I won't supply cigarettes for acquaintances either.
I don't eat white bread, sugar, or any other highly processed foods, vegetable oils etc., and I don't use many common bathroom products that contain benzines or propanol and I have a separate garage so that I am not living with the petrol fumes and paint solvents that tend to accumulate in them.
I just hate it when my JW relations, who spend their holidays eating junk food and smeared with benzine laded suntan lotions, return without filling their quotas of duty free baccy for me because they are supposed to "keep their bodies like a temple"
I'm not a smoker, but I would happily buy smokes for a friend.
Narkissos wrote:
Serious moral question: does loving somebody mean (1) trying to protect him/her against him/herself or (2) accompanying him his/her choices of life and death?
I think we all have a line beyond which we would not abet self-destructive behavior (buying an alcoholic a drink? assisting suicide?). If I'm not sure, however, then I prefer err on the side of respecting my friends' and loved ones' rights to make their own choices.
No disrespect meant to those who feel differently, of course.
I would buy it without any problem. But I can respect someone who wouldnt want to as long as that person is consistantly refusing to let anyone harm themselves in any way. I dont agree with just picking on smokers like somehow they are worse than others who do themselves harm.
In this country, there are nearly as many people dying each year from obesity than smoking (400,000 vs. 435,000 per year). Researchers think that soon obesity will be the number one cause of preventable deaths and smoking will drop to number two.In America there are 129 million overweight people and only 46 million smokers.
Hypothetical questions...
If your friend asks you to buy them a coke do you refuse? If you take an friend out to dinner to you check their BMI first to make sure they are in a healthy weight range? Do you refuse to pay if an overweight friend orders a steak or pasta? Do you refuse to sit and watch tv with your friends unless they have done their daily workout routine first?
Or are you one of those overweight people who eats their fries and shakes their head at a smoker saying "how can they smoke, dont they know its killing them?"
This made me realize I don't have any friends who smoke.
I like not smelling it.
Yes..............it isn't my business to judge their habits.
But..........I wouldn't buy liquor for an underage person, or an alcoholic.
I wouldn't agree to buy cheap or duty-free ciggies for anyone on one of our o/seas trips - simply selfish reason, I've got enough to carry and worry about without getting some ciggies for someone!!!!
But....I would buy a packet of cigs locally if I was asked - not that i ever have been.
Euph,
This was really an open question. I wouldn't buy alcohol or tobacco for a teenager -- not because this is forbidden. I would certainly buy liquor for an elderly person who has conscientiously chosen his/her way to live and go.
I think in some rare cases death is the very best thing you can give to someone you really love. I don't know if I'd have the guts to do it, but I do respect those who chose so. The conclusion of Steinbeck's novel Mice and Men comes to mind.
