BY ANY standard, every young person in the group was handsome or beautiful -- and also well-dressed. But the group of 7-8 young people -- boys and girls -- had a terribly serious problem. All of them were smoking almost continuously for over an hour standing outside a restaurant. Standing a few feet away from the group (with the sole purpose watching the young group), the loosefooter felt really, really sorry for the young people with blackened lips and reddened eyes -- obviously from the toxic smoke from the white cancer sticks butting from their mouths, and clutched in their fingers. Very frankly, all those handsome young men and beautiful young women looked terribly ugly -- to the old-fashioned eyes of the loosefooter. Similar sights are seen in countless places in the city as the loosefooter moves around in pursuit of newer glimpses of life and its varieties and vagaries.

 

In ‘Smoking Zones’ in cafes and restaurants, countless numbers of young people are seen indulging in that ugly habit that brings them no benefit, no matter their arguments in its favour. It is hard to know when those young souls get into bad and wrong habits and spoil their health and life -- and also precious whose loss they may not have the sense to realise at that stage and age ! The trouble is that the families of such young people may not even be aware of what their youngsters are doing outside the home.

 

Many young people may even be living in hostels -- away from their homes in some other town. Many young people also are seen working with their laptop computers -- indicating that they may have been employed. And many, many, many of such young men and women are seen smoking cigarettes. They are also seen drinking some liquids (of suspect nature) that the loosefooter would never allow his kids even to touch -- simply because those alcoholic liquids are bad for anybody anywhere, no matter who the person happens to be, young or old, man or woman. The loosefooter often senses a stab of pain as he sees such sights anywhere -- especially when he realises that young people are becoming victims of wrong habits. The loosefooter insists that he never indulges in what is called ‘moral policing’. Yet, he also has known fully well the terrible ill-effects of wrong and bad habits. n