(This is a repost of a post I wrote on another thread. Because I mentioned SI and because I think you guys have the best input, I wanted to place it here for discussion. If it’s too OT, take it down. I’m a little interested in what SI would say to someone who called to ask questions like ya’all told us too.)
:::When I first ordered my pv, I couldn’t wait to get out there and get in some faces. I was determined to get aggressive with all the sanctimonious jerks that felt it necessary to really pound on me. After a couple of days I realized that my real desire was more like acceptance. I wanted to be more like everyone else. As a result, if I can vape and go unnoticed, that’s my preferred outcome. I won’t necessarily hide it or stealth vape, but the venom was gone and I didn’t seek out confrontations like I fantasized I would.
Don’t get me wrong. If someone is going to have an issue with it and starts laying out the fake coughs or worse, the self-righteousness bit, I’ll try to educate and if necessary unload some of the years of second-class treatment baggage I’ve been carrying around all this time.
I love the fact that smokeless image encourages vapers to have business owners and the ‘concerned’ citizenry call them directly so they can fully explain every nuance of vapeing and straighten them out. I don’t mind a question or two, and expect to continue to receive generally warm responses, but there may be a time where I take SI up on their offer and shorten my answer to “It’s not tobacco, it’s not ignited, it does not contain carcinogens, there is no smell, there is no health hazard to you, there is no smoke hence no second hand smoke, and if you have any questions about it you can call my people at …”
The odd thing I noticed is this feeling of obligation as I see someone dragging an analog. I feel like they probably don’t know about the alternative and if I don’t inform them, I’m slightly responsible for their ignorance and by extension, the damage they’re inflicting on themselves. Not the feeling I expected to have at all. By extension, I should almost vape more openly in order to create opportunities to pass along all that I have learned and do some good in the would for the misinformed or ignorant smoking public.
Just sayin’:::