Mike Sawyer purchased the Pure Evil shirt above for $2.88 plus tax at Academy Sports in Hoover, Alabama on October 28, 2005
Low Carb . No MSG
Sawyer immediately took the shirt to a sign, banner and T-Shirt shop for the
message above to be placed on the back.
Please click on the pictures below to see how Kristie so kindly assisted in
making this message come alive.
Please click on each picture above for larger view
Pure Evil got lots of laughs from Mary Jo and Alice as they
were giving out samples.
Both quickly agreed Tobacco was Pure Evil!
I invite you to share what you do when you see a young mother-to-be smoking?
Also, how do you react when you see smokers with kids in the car?
Response from Canada
Mixed feelings re pregnant smokers. Know
they're addicted and ignorant,
but angry b/c 99% of that ignorance is wilful, not b/c there is no way
for them to know any better. They're unnecessarily and wilfully hurting
their babies.
As for smoking in a car w/ children, there is just no excuse. None at
all. Don't know how those people can live w/ themselves. Anyone stupid
enough to truly believe that's okay wouldn't have the intelligence to
tie their own shoes, let alone obtain a valid driver's license. Slowly,
law courts are starting to take notice and taking such behaviour into
consideration in custody battles.
Most smokers - and tobacco companies were gleefully aware of this and
used it to their advantage in promoting tobacco use - would, if down to
their last few dollars, let their children go hungry and buy cigarettes
instead of food.
Addiction makes parents love their cigarettes more than they love their
kids. I always feel so sorry f/ kids whose parents smoke. Apart from
what these people are doing to their kids' health, including
irreversible genetic damage that can harm future generations, imagine
never knowing the comfort of coming home to a clean-smelling bed and
always reeking of squalor, even when the clothes and hair are freshly
washed. Imagine your friends not being allowed to come over to your
house b/c your parents smoke. Imagine growing up knowing that, no matter
what happens, your parents will defend their addiction, no matter how
sick it makes you, even if it threatens to kill you, and that you are
always second in their hearts to tobacco.
That a parent would put his/her children's needs second to smoking just
underlines how evil addiction really is and how utterly depraved those
are who sell and/or defend it.
Response from Michigan
Response from New York
I think that many people who smoke have no clue to the damage they are doing to their children when they smoke with the kids present. So Im willing to have them given a warning the first time. But if a doctor or school nurse sees a child repeated coming in with ear infections, asthma, or other symptoms of exposure to cig smoke, then I think the parents should be reported for child abuse. I think the parents should be given a clear warning, they should be told how they are harming their kids, and they should be given help in quitting. But after all that, if they continue to smoke in front of their kids, then I think they should be treated as any other child abuser.
I told one mom that she might as well just put her cigarettes out on her childrens skin if she were going to continue to smoke in front of them. At least that wouldnt kill them, I told her. This is a mom who loves her kids, but she became very irate and said what she does in her own home is her own business. I gave her lots of information about the harm SHS does to kids, but she said Im not stupid! Everyone knows that smoking is bad and second hand smoke is bad! Yet she continues to smoke in front of her kids. Denial is so strong that somehow she lives with this dichotomy: I know Im hurting my kids- I love my kids.
I think that in her denial she doesnt really believe shes hurting her kids, because I dont think she would do it if she really believed that.
Well, Mike, in NY weve gotten smoking among adults down to 16.8%!!! Weve come a long way. But there will always be work to be done and lives to save in our lifetimes. The battle isnt won, but at least were moving in the right direction!
Response from Alabama
Mike, here is something you can use on one of
your tobacco sites, if you can use it:
I have had asthma my entire life. Contrary to what some people believe, you
don't "outgrow" it, any more than a child would outgrow diabetes. It is a
serious, chronic lung condition in which the airways are sharply and
suddenly restricted due to such triggers as exercise, allergens, weather
changes, or smoke.
I always tell people I can "feel" cigarette smoke before I can smell it. I
feel my chest get tight, and I start to wheeze. It literally feels like I
have a brick on my chest. I have to carry an inhaler with me at all times
just in case I am exposed to a trigger. Just today I went to our mailroom,
and someone had the door propped open so they could smoke just outside. Even
so, the hallway was full of smoke. My chest immediately tightened, and I
began to cough. Of course, I was able to use my inhaler, but my chest will
be sore the remainder of the day, and my voice will crack on the telephone
from having used the emergency inhaler.
When I go out to eat, I ask the hostess to seat me far away from the smoking
area, even if it means waiting a while. I learned this lesson the hard way.
Several years ago I was waiting for a table at Ruby Tuesday on Southside.
The hostess seated me in nonsmoking, but I was right next to a table of 10
women who were all smoking heavily. I didn't want to create a scene, so I
quietly asked the hostess if I could wait on a table deeper within the
nonsmoking section. Despite my efforts to be discreet, the smoking women
mocked me and had a big joke at my expense. I guess they thought I was just
being prissy.
My pharmacy is adjacent to a MedHelp office. Every time I went to pick up my
prescription, there would be nurses outside smoking. I had to walk through
it just to get my medicine. And overall, I'm fairly healthy. Think what it
must have been like for someone elderly to pass through that. It took
several phone calls to their office manager to get that stopped. The PawPaw
Patch now limits their smoking area to a separate room on the porch, which
has also been a huge help.
So my experience has been that it never pays to approach a smoker about what
they're doing. These are just two examples; I could go on with many more.
They don't care if they are hurting you, or themselves. They consider it
their right and that it's none of your business. I've tried to understand
it, but it's hard for me to be objective.
While wearing my "Pure Evil" shirt shopping on Christmas Eve a young lady giving away samples, pointed to my shirt and said," I love it." (see shirt at
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about
things that matter.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lyrics from Blowin in the Wind
Bob Dylan
Yes, 'n'
how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
With compassion,
Mike Sawyer
Executive Director
I Will Never Use Tobacco, Inc.501 (c) 3
205-515-1560
Birmingham, Alabama
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