Wolfville targets personal freedom

Humans don’t have a choice of parents, countries, race, or situations into which they are they are born. Why is one child born into a wealthy household and the next into poverty? Or into the worst physical abusive situations imaginable, and the next to a warm and loving family? Why is one child's religion ‘Christian Science,’ while another is ‘Catholic?’ Why is there an emphasis on thinking and learning in one home, when in others, children are left to their own devices or ‘raised on the streets?’

We are very lucky to live in a country where we can choose to pursue many things we want.

Some of them ‘good for us’ and some of them ‘bad.’ For example, some people believe that even one drink of alcohol will be seriously detrimental to your health -- and statistics are available for whichever side you are on.

Some people firmly believe that global warming is upon us, and have the statistics to prove it; others believe the earth is going through another cycle or phase, and have the statistics to prove that as well. Some people believe that smoking causes cancer; others believe that if you are going to get cancer, smoking has nothing to do with it, again with supporting statistics for each point of view.

The problem with the smoking issue is that one group of people is trying to impose their beliefs on others to the point of infringing on their rights to choose and to parent.

Banning smoking in cars of people with children is not going to stop smoking in homes by the same people and will be impossible to enforce, unless vehicles -- and next, homes? -- are to be searched upon entry to Wolfville.

It all comes down to personal freedom and parenting—and what Wolfville town council is saying to me personally is that ‘you’re a bad parent/person if you smoke around your children.’

Just as alcohol consumption led to prohibition in the 1920s, smoking now seems to be the definitive definition of a ‘bad person/parent’ to some people. I beg to differ.

Tanya Sponagle

Cambridge