I am a proud redneck. I was born redneck, I was raised redneck, and I will continue to be redneck. I was a proud redneck in college even though being that was not very popular - especially with the ladies - and I am completely unashamed about this.
This is probably because I pick and choose the characteristics of being a redneck that I decide to make a part of my life. There are a LOT of what I perceive to be good characteristic of being a redneck such as a love for the outdoors, knowing how to do practical things with your hands and how to repair your own things, an intense dedication to family, and being satisfied with the simpler (and conveniently less expensive) parts of life.
There are a lot of negatives that come with being a part of this demographic as well though, and some of them really annoy me because they are "my people."
Smoking is a big one of them and by smoking I mean the most senseless smoking of all: Cigarettes.
Back when I was growing up, smoking cigarettes seemed to be a requirement of being accepted in the redneck community. To be fair the red people out there though, it was a very big part of all walks of life in the 70's and 80's, even much more so before then.
Times have changed though and smoking is at a lower rate today nationally and probably globally than it has ever been since smoking existed on a wide scale.
I became a smoker like everyone else when I was a teen, and I wasn't really punished for this because my own father smoked (still does!).
I did have the good sense to stop smoking once I was about halfway through college though and this was through a combination of getting involved in some sports as well as the rules kind of changing during that time and not being allowed to smoke in a lot of places.
These days it seems almost no one smokes but this is not at all true in the redneck community. There are a number of reasons why this seriously gets under my skin.
- it stinks: It makes you and everyone in your proximity stink when you do it
- it's become outlandishly expensive and the redneck community is strapped for cash pretty hard already
- it's basically guaranteed to give you bad health problems down the line
- it doesn't actually do anything for you! At least weed gets you high
Smoking has become unattractive as well for the most part and I am surprised about the rather high amount of redneck women that choose to smoke. That probably sounds misogynistic, but I find smoking really unattractive and wont date anyone that does smoke.
While I have no idea how they collected this data, the "redneck" community has a smoking rate more than 50% higher than the US National average and I can confirm by being a part of it that this is definitely true.
I get annoyed when I am with my redneck buddies and they get all nervous when we get near a place where smoking is allowed and they have to inconvenience everyone else by going over there to feed the beast. Sometimes they can see my annoyance and they power down the smoke so fast that there is no way they could have possibly enjoyed it.
I remember smoking from the years that I did it. You get nothing from it and often it makes you feel really horrible yet you still do it. It really makes zero sense to me that anyone would be so dedicated to something that makes the feel bad, is killing them, and is removing money from their wallet daily.
It is tough to quit, I can attest to that personally, but it is such a fantastic accomplishment when you do kick the habit.
I give my father a pass on this because he is my father. I do encourage him to try to stop but honestly, it is probably too late for him to make any difference in his life if he were to stop. He stays pretty active and I guess this balances it out. I just fear that a day will come and he is going to get the really horrible news that has already claimed one of his brothers. I'm a bit shocked that the death of his older brother from lung cancer didn't convince him to at least investigate quitting but he smoked right outside the hospital that his kin died in.
I'm all about freedom and a person should be allowed to do something with their own body even if it is destroying it. I just can't relate to why anyone, from any demographic, would continue to do something so completely unrewarding as smoking cigarettes. I hate it.
