An essay on smoking in airports

Should Taiwan compromise with its somewhat draconian anti-smoking rules so that visitors who smoke could feel more welcome in our airports? Considering the ties between Taiwan and Japan and China, to name two of our main sources for tourists, why not open this question to study and debate? Legislators would do well to do some homework here, consult public opinion, and perhaps consider a trial period of freer smoking rules at our international terminals. Again, however, a relaxing in regulations must not come at the expense of the rights of non-smokers for smoke-free air.

I live, work, and pray with a group of missionaries I am proud to call my brothers. We are of ten different cultures, six of which are Asian. What American English terms “cultural diversity” is an every day fact of life for us.

No comparison is perfect, and a comparison of attitudes about smoking with attitudes about tolerance for cultural differences may seem a trifle bizarre.

Is such thinking any odder, however, than the suggestion we can reform people's eating habits by taxing junk food? Local officials proposed that some time back, you know. Across the ocean, officials in New York are concerned about obesity. Pizza, they say, is bad because it is fattening. These zealous calorie-counters are urging a tax on pizza, similar to taxes on cigarettes. I am not kidding you.

Concern for people's health and also their rights, mixed with unlikely comparisons, make for some peculiar essays. This column today is one of them.

Father Daniel J. Bauer SVD is a priest and associate professor in the English Department at Fu Jen Catholic University.

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