European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 24, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns William f. Buckley the stars and stripes sunday August 24,1986 no smoking on air planes wait a minute. Comes now the National facade my of sciences with a report that re minds us that scientists tend to forget that human beings Aren t squeaky wheels or Guinea pigs. What the Learned facade my recommends is thai cigarette smok ing be forbidden on air planes. I wish everyone in the world my wife included would Slop smoking. Per lips someday they will however unlikely this is Bui in he meantime we need 10 re mind ourselves of what smoking is and Whai. Smoking does for. As Well As to some people. There Are an estimated 37 million sex Cigar ii smoker in America but i Range to say Many of them appear not 10 remember How it was in the Good bad old Days. I kicked the habit Al age 26, but even so i remember what smoking did to me. In the army five seconds after reveille a cigarette was in my Mouth. Al College during Lent i gave up smoking until Sun Down. I would find myself notwithstanding an overbearing academic and extracurricular schedule iwo or three times a week a a movie House at about 4p.m. Why because my generation had been trained not to smoke Al movies it was illegal 10 do so and Long Vars of habit quieted the itch in the King while grew Garbo or Humphrey Bogart distracted us from our pain. But when the movie was Over the Sun was Down and f could resume smoking. The purpose of this autobiographical exercise is to remind our scientists so Many of them removed from the traffic of human experience that one of he reasons we so much deplore cigarette smoking is thai it is an addiction. The doctors Ell us that if smokers could be persuaded to limit themselves to 10 cigarettes per Day the human system could absorb the Poison. Unhappily even knowing this to be the Case the Over whelming majority of our smokers exceed this limit by a Factor of 100, 200. 300, 400, 500 percent and More. It is one thing o deplore that they should do so quite another calmly to inform the thai effective the first Day of next month they Are to give up smoking on a seven William Safire hour flight from new York to Anchor age. You simply cannot do that to people who Are smokers not without turning air plane travel into torture. When the news was Given out that the Academy was going to make that recommendation there were interviews taken on the streets and Many rejoiced. One woman said on television it s about Lime but that is to express a distaste for smoking which is perfectly legitimate. One harbours a distaste for Many things some people Don t like dogs cats obesity bad grammar film Vio Lence him non violence ele. But the american protocol is to let people do what they want to do which is to cast bread upon the Waters Given that the same protocol permits us to be our potty Little selves. On what reasoning do the scientists rely Well icy Tell you air circulation inside an air plane in t sufficient to con lain the smoke within the narrow area of the smoker and therefore some of in drifts out to annoy passengers and 10 damage potentially flight personnel. The first problem is rather easily coped with those with High allergy to smoke can recommend seats far removed from the smokers Section. As for the flight at Eanls the study by the Academy is not Likely 10 document a noxious Impact on the health of passengers by passing through an area in which people Are smoking 15 Days per month for three or four hours. It is Likely that the same peo ple expose themselves to the same concentration of smoke at restaurants play. Ing Bridge or poker with their friends or indeed inhaling their spouses smoke or for that matter smoking themselves. It is when the third reason for forbid Ding smoking is cited that scepticism gives Way to cynicism. That reason is to diminish the danger of fire on Board Anai plane. The statistics Are not Handy but if the honorable scientists can come up with a single fatality caused by Tome one having set a tobacco fire to a com Mercial Airliner i Hope they will feature this in their report i would rather once in a life time in a far advanced lifetime of perpetual flying i have yet to see a fire aboard a plane be aboard a plane during a Little shoot out with a cigarette caused fire in the Corner of Cushion than be on every Light with 50 or 100 haunted soul choking for a snort of the Weed and Tak ing out their ill humor on Friendly Folk like thee and me. In i awful p syn Cito americans Short on loyalty to their institutions Why have we seen in the list few Yean so Mitch of the Sale of National secrets for Money a new Breed of trader traitor has Arisen who puts his love of self and self ahead of Bis loyally to hit country. And Why have we seen at the same time the inva Sion of Wall Street by the Cor puppies these Are the insiders with nothing inside status worshipping Mem Ben of a glossed generation whose self absorption is Complete and whose concern is nil for the reputations of the investment houses or Law firms thai employ them. Why has this been accompanied in Washington by the excess of Access the of parasitism activists become do activists and enrich them selves by lobbying to oppose or twist the purposes that originally brought their administration to Power. The common denominator in this spread of corruption is the decline of institutional loyalty. For Loo Long we have derogated patriotism As us per patriotism and mocked my country right or wrong As equivalent to Niy Mother drunk or we focus in fact and fiction on the dramatic Trade Craft of espionage forgetting the heinous Ness of the crime of betrayal of the institution called country result sellouts of National Security for Cash. Similarly our corporate culture has razed the no lion of the stability and continuity of the firm Merg ing to create Empire but submerging identity. In a com Pany recently acquired by another and taken Over by a third nobody s picture is on the Wall and employees cannot be expected to pin Long term commitment to a graphic artist s Symbol. Try being Loyal to a parallelogram. Result the House of owners no Home and the Hotshot uses what used to be an institution As a pit Slop on the fast Lane. And in the same Way Loo Many members of past and present administrations forget what their loyalty to their hero and his party and Alt the combination represented. Result today s bizarre Bazaar. It seems that the institutional loyalty we have let run out of the tub was not such a bad thing. The Romball Lump in the Throat at the pledge of allegiance the paternalism of the company office party and the forced camaraderie of the Union picnic the reunions of the original campaigners All contributed to a. Sense of be longing of ownership and being owned. There was a line below the Bottom line. The organization was something to Gripe about but also to be proud of. Of without gelling misty eyed about an organizational past that was not wholly supportive what do we do to Slop the erosion loyally patriotism May be on the Way Back in and influence peddling on the Way out the place to concentrate is in the business world. Companies must recognize that employee loyally is a substantial asset. That Means a new regard for seniority i never gave that much thought when i was Young and a method of guaranteeing pension and insurance benefits no matter what happens to the com Pany. That will have its costs but managers will soon have to Stop abdicating Power to Security analysts a More Loyal work Force May not show up in the quarterly earnings but will help the company survive and Prosper. Workers and Junior executives in turn will have to Stop treating the firm As this year s trampoline to someplace else the portability of pension Benefit ii not As important As a Stock Purchase plan. Hierarchy i not villainy and networking is not virtue. You dont Nave to Many the corporation for life As so Many japanese do but there is a value to planning an extended cohabitation. The corporate hero should become the manager who brings along Good people and helps the others improve productivity not the hired Hatchet Man who character izes everyone who has been there before him As dead the villain should be the anti Orga Moulion Man who treads his Primrose career path with no re Spect for corporate character or sense of Pride in being part of a worthwhile Enterprise. Sometimes institutional loyalties conflict a traitor s spouse is torn Between an urge to protect the family and a reluctance to injure the country. Many a lawyer and accountant is faced with a Tough Choice Between his client and his profession this totally to ones outfit stuff can be a head breaker. But it is a value we ought to Slart recognizing anew and leaching again and demanding of each other. We have two jobs to make our institutions More worthy of respect and then to respect them
