Watching Spokane County commissioners Tuesday evening as they agreed to  ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, I was struck by the fact that here you have three middle-aged male Republicans, all of whom avoided ever becoming smokers.

That's a remarkable change from my own coming of age, which is somewhat  further removed than theirs.  I could also identify with the comments Al French and Mark Richard made about living in smoke-clouded homes.  But when they recalled having to go outside to get fresh air, my memories differed.  Like a fish that doesn't realize it's wet, I was never aware that I was in a fouled environment.  That was just the way things were.

Only years later, when I was married and in my own household did I begin to notice the smell and other evidence of smoking -- in elevators, on clothing, even in my wife's hair after she'd returned from a meeting or social event that included smokers.

Maybe we're making modest progress.

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