I guess I should be grateful for smoking regulations, because it made it easier for me to quit. I tried for twenty years to give up, but my recidivism rate was 100 percent when I was in constant contact with smokers.

Still, the smoking restrictions seemed to mark the onset of a shift in our culture toward regulation of all sorts of things, and I don't think I like it. Once upon a time, if a person was sensitive to smoke, or peanuts, or nightshades, or milk, or meat - that was the problem of the person who had the sensitivity, and he or she learned to deal with it. If you were allergic to meat and milk and nightshades and went to somebody's home for dinner, you just quietly passed up the meat and potatoes and ice cream, and you ate a hearty portion of vegetables and bread. Now, it seems that people respond to dinner invitations with a list of their food allergies.

I know it's a sacred cow and that it's politically incorrect to talk about it, but I think the same could be said about a lot of laws intended to help those with disabilities. We went to a hotel last month and wanted to stay in the same room we had last year, which had a beautiful view. We couldn't have the room, because the room had been designated a "handicapped" room and had to be reserved in case a handicapped person might show up in the middle of the night. This was mid-week and only five rooms were occupied, but two rooms had to be kept empty for handicapped use.

I suppose that society was too insensitive to special needs in the past, but now it seems that the tables have turned to the point that we're all bound in a web of regulations intended to accommodate every conceivable disability.

I think we need to find a balance, one that protects feedom and common sense, along with the needs of those with special concerns. I think that people with particular needs need to do what they can to provide their own accommodations, and that society needs to make up the difference with reasonable accommodations - keeping general freedom and common sense in mind at all times. I think we all could be a little less fussy and self-concerned, and a lot more tolerant.

-Joe Offer-