We are being attacked on all sides by Americans who think they have the right to tell us what we can put into our bodies.

Two weeks ago, my doctor said he was glad I stopped smoking. I told him I didn’t stop because I woke up one day and said, “What the heck am I doing to myself?” I stopped because it got too expensive. If the price would go down I’d most likely smoke again.

There are people on television, in magazines and in our everyday lives that have become addicted to saving my life. They will stop at nothing to shame me into thinking that I am a subpar human being if I don’t live like they live. Frankly, I am insulted that as an American I cannot eat a pizza, wash it down with beer and after I’m done go out on my deck and smoke a cigar and relax without being ridiculed.

We are being assaulted by a bunch of leaf-eating hypocrites who want us to become the people they are. Most of these people drank beer and smoked in their early lives but now have been reborn.

I want no part of it.

We all need to be reminded that it is our legal right to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol and eat high calorie foods all you want. We are not second-class citizens for making life worth living and taking advantage of what our generation life has to offer.

The brave soldiers who fought for our rights and freedoms also fought for my rights and freedoms.

I am sick and tired of being told who, what, when, where, why and how. I am an American and will live like one.

Mark Pantermoller, Fairfield

Copy the Story Link