Of all the pathetic excuses!

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind. - John Donne

Lake Towada (September 2003)

Of all the pathetic excuses I've heard, and I've heard (and perhaps made!) a lot, the most pathetic has got to be "I'm only hurting myself." The person who says this does not know how to make logical connections, in short, is not in touch with the realities of life!

I thought of John Donne's poem the other day while I was waiting for Daughter #1's train to come in. I had wandered down to the end of the platform for exercise and stumbled on the exiled smokers...

It doesn't matter what the issue is... "I'm only hurting myself" never cuts it as an excuse!