Day 4 – New realisations

Picture of Healthcare sub-group in CMU, picture credit: Ong Yong Jia 

“What are your personal opinions on smokers?”

This question is often followed by a slightly awkward pause.

I’ve found that this has been one of the hardest questions that I’ve had to ask during this trip. Most would respond by telling me that smoking is very bad for health, but few would actually voice their true opinions.

Constantly asking people this question has also made me think more about this.

Before this trip, I’ve always thought that I am pretty tolerant and okay with smokers around me, and that I don’t judge them just because they smoke. But since interviewing so many smokers, I’ve found that I do have a little bit of a bias against them. I’ve found that I am kind of intimidated by them, and if I’m really honest, I might even have a stereotype of them. In my head, smokers are tough, fierce and maybe a little scary. I definitely felt more than a little nervous when I tried to approach some smokers for interviews. Perhaps, its because of the way I’ve been taught since young that smoking is bad and that I should stay away from smokers. Or perhaps its because I don’t know many smokers personally.

Whatever the case, the fact remains: I am not as impartial to smoking as I thought I would be.

Frankly, I never realised that I had this impression of smokers. In fact, I’ve always thought that smokers don’t really face a lot of judgement for smoking. But now, I see that being a non-smoker means that I haven’t been seeing the full picture of smokers and the subtle discrimination they face.

I am unsettled by the fact that I might have such feelings against smokers. But, I think its good that at least I now know of this bias I hold. Now, I can work on improving this – I can work towards being less judgemental of smokers. Knowing that there is a stigma against smokers that I’ve not really been aware of has made this study more meaningful to me. Being aware of this has fuelled my drive to complete this study well.

Tomorrow is the last day of this trip, I hope I’ll be able to round off this trip with a bang!