When I was a student at Butler, I was granted the opportunity my senior year to write a column called the Neglected Word of the Week. I'd basically tell a little story about my life and connect it with some really wacky word that no one uses anymore.

Once, I wrote about smoking. I called cigarettes a delectation, MY delectation, and hopefully you can infer what a delectation is.

And now, again, I feel compelled to write about the topic.

I was recently at a get-together in Broad Ripple where, after stepping out for a smoke, was approached by a woman I'd barely been introduced to. Before even a Hello or a How Are You left her lips, she glanced at my cigarette, saying, "Those'll kill you, y'know."

No way! Really? Seriously? You mean those Truth commercials are actually quite valid? You mean the Surgeon General's warning on the side of my pack of Turkish Silvers isn't just fashionable decoration? Geez, lady, you're a life saver.

Sarcasm aside, I'm not an idiot. Yes, I know cigarettes will more than likely kill me. A stranger telling me cigarettes kill does not suddenly make me want to quit. In fact, a stranger telling me that cigarettes kill makes me want to scoff, makes me want to light up another just to spite them.

And frankly, now that I've brought up the subject, I'm going to do exactly that. Give me a moment. I'll continue in just one second.

Phew. Wow. Now that was good.

As far as smoking goes, my grandmother died of lung cancer and my grandfather is currently dying of emphysema. I am not one of those people who claims their grandparents smoked until their un-tobacco-related deaths and I am not a person consistently trying to quit. I am a person who knows smoking causes disease but likes to smoke. I have always liked the taste of cigarettes, the feeling of the cigarette between my fingers, the smell of them, the ambiance that comes with smoking. I like to smoke with coffee and wine. I like to smoke after a meal. I like to smoke when I drive. I smoke a pack a day.

Admittedly, again, I will more than likely die of something smoking related. But you don't see me telling someone with high cholesterol to put down that Baconator.

I guess what I'm trying to say is - to each his own. I've read the research about what second hand smoking does to those who do not smoke - I do not smoke around children and I'm okay with the smoke-free restaurants, etc. But a stranger is not saving my life by telling me smoking kills. You're looking down on something I enjoy and, me being the spiteful type, I'll do it anyway.

Because, yes, I'm addicted, but I enjoy it, too. And until the day comes when I don't?

Well. Can I bum a light?