FRANKLIN ZIMRING (1942-_) Confessions of an Ex-Smoker Born in Los Angeles, Franklin Zimring eamed his B.A. at Wayne State University and his law degree at the University of Chicago and then served for ten years as the director of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice at the University of Chicago before moving to his present post as director of the Earl Warren Legal Institute at the University of California at Berkeley. A specialist in legal policy, he has published a number of books on a wide va- riety of topics, many of which were coauthored with colleague Gordon Hawkins, including The Citizen's Guide to Gun Control (1987), The Sale of Imprisonment (1991), The Search for Rational Drug Control (1992), Icapacitation: Penal Confinement and the Re- straint of Crime (1995), and Crime is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America (1997), American Youth Violence (1998), and Punishment and Democracy: Three Strikes and You're Out (2000). His advice to students using The Prose Reader is to “listen to your own internal ptompter as you write.” A great believer in E. M. Forster's famous qttestion “How do I know what I think till I see what I say?,” Zimring counsels students to “relax and decide what you really think about a topic, and then express it as clearly and concisely as possible.” The author’s own relaxation comes from the sport of swimming, to which he confesses a “religious devotion.” Preparing to Read Originally published in Newsweek magazine (April 20, 1987), the following article is one in a series of “Mid-Life Memoranda” that Zimaing has been writing since 1985. Ie offers a witty classifi- cation of ex-smokers into four distinct groups: zealots, evangelists, the elect, and the serene, As you prepare to read this essay, think for a few moments about your own addictions: Have you ever had any addictions? Were they good addictions or bad? Are any of these addictions still with you? Why are these addictions part of your life? Do you want to change the status of these addictions? Why or why not? What do you think causes people to be308 CHAPTER 5 ~ Division/Classifiation addicted to certain substances or behavior? How can we break away from addictions successfully? nonsmokers, and that expanding pack of us who have quit. Those who have never smoked don't know what they're missing, but former smokers, ex-smokers, reformed smok- ers can never forget. We are veterans of a personal war, linked by that watershed experience of ceasing to smoke and by the tempta- tion to have just one more cigarette, For almost all of us ex- smokers, smoking continucs to play an important part in our lives. ‘And now that it is being restricted in restaurants around the coun try and will be banned in almost all indoor public places in New ‘York State, it is vital that everyone understand the different emo- tional states cessation of smoking can cause. I have observed four of them; and in the interest of science T have clasified them as those of the zealot, the evangelist, the elect, and the serene. Each day, each category gains new recruits TNotall anttobaceo zealots are former smokers, but 2 substantial number of fire-and-brimstone opponents do come from the ranks of the reformed. Zealots believe that those who continue to smoke are degenerates who deserve scom not pity and the penalties that will deter offensive behavior in public as well. Relations between these people and those who continue to smoke are strained. ‘One explanation for the zealots fervor in seeking to outlaw to~ ‘bacco consumption is his own tenuous hold on abstaining from smoking. But I think part of the emotional force arises from sheer envy as he watches and identifies with each lung-filing puff: By making smoking in public a crime, the zealot seeks reassurance that he will not revert to bad habits; give him strong social penal- ties, and he won't become a recidivist. No systematic survey has been done yet, but anecdotal evi- dence suggests that a disproportionate number of doctors who have quit smoking can be found among the fanatics. Just as the ‘most enthusiastic revolutionary tends to make the most enthusias- tic counterrevohutionary, many of today’s vitriolic zealots include those who had been deeply committed to tobacco habits. By contrast, the antismoking evangelist does not condemn smokers. Unlike the zealot, he regards smoking as an easily cur- Ae eeriraals divided into three groups—smokers,Zimring: Confessions of an Ex-Smoker 30) able condition, as a social disease, and not a sin, The evangelist spends an enormous amount of time seeking and preaching to the unconverted. He argues that kicking the habit is not that difficult. Afier all, he did it; moreover, as he describes it, the benefits of quitting are beyond measure and the disadvantages are nil The hallmark of the evangelist is his insistence that he never misses tobacco. Though he is les hostile to smokers than the zealot, he is resented more. Friends and loved ones who have been the targets of his preachments frequently greet the resump= tion of smoking by the evangelist as an occasion for unmitigated alec. ‘Among former smokers, the distinctions between the evange- list and the elect are much the same as the differences between proselytizing and nonproselytizing religious sects. While the evangelists preach the ease and desirability of abstinence, the elect do not attempt to convert their friends. They think that virtue is its own reward and subscribe to the Puritan theory of predestina- tion. Since they have proved themselves capable of abstaining from tobacco, they are therefore different from friends and rela- tives who continue to smoke, They feel superior, secure that their salvation was foreordained. These ex-smokers rarely give personal testimony on their conversion. They rarely speak about their to- bacco habits, while evangelists talk about little else. OF course, ac- tive smokers find such blue-nosed behavior far less offensive than that of the evangelist or the zealot, yet they resent the clect simply because they are smug. Their air of self-satisfaction rarely escapes the notice of those lighting up. For active smokers, life with a ‘member of the ex-smoking elect is less stormy than with a zealot or evangelist, but it is subtly oppressive nonetheless. Thave labeled my final category of former smokers the serene. ‘This classification is meant to encourage those who find the other psychic styles of ex-smokers disagreeable. Serenity is quieter than zealotry and evangelism, and those who qualify are not as self righteous as the elect. The serene ex-smoker accepts himself and also accepts those around him who continue to smoke. This kind of serenity does not come easily nor does it seem to be an imme- diate option for those who have stopped. Rather it is a goal, an end stage in a process of development during which some former smokers progress through one or more of the less-than-positive psychological points en route. For former smokers, serenity is thus310 CHAPTER 5 ~ Division/Clasifeaion positive possibility that exists at the end of the rainbow, But all former smokers cannot reach that promised land. ‘What is it that permits some former smokers to become serene? 1 think the key is self-acceptance and gratitude, The fully mature former smoker knows he has the soul of an addict and is grateful for the knowledge. He doesn’t regret that he quit smoking, nor any of his previous adventures with tobacco. As a former smoker, he is grateful for the experience and memory of craving a ciga- rette. Serenity comes from accepting the lessons of one's life. ‘And ex-smokers who have reached this point in their world view have much to be grateful for. They have learned about the potential and limits of change. In becoming the right kind of former smoker, they developed a healthy sense of self. This former smoker, for one, believes that it is better to crave (one hopes only occasionally) and not to smoke than never to have craved at all, And by accepting that fact, the reformed smoker does not need to excoriate, envy, or disassociate himself from those who continue to smoke. UNDERSTANDING DETAILS 1, What are the four categories of reformed smokers that Zimring has observed? What characterizes each type? 2. What is the difference bevween the “elect” and the “serene” ex-smokers according to the author? 3. What is the general purpose of this division/classification essay? 4. How ate becoming “the right kind of former smoker” and “a healthy sense of self” (paragraph 10) related? How do they af= fect one another? ANALYZING MEANING 1, How does Ziming poreray smokers in this essay? What effect dloes this atitude have on the rest of the essay? 2. What type of ex-smoker do you think would be most dificult to live with and why? 3. Why do you think many doctors who stop smoking become zealots?