Your Right To Harm Yourself Stops When I Have To Pay For It

     No one likes to be told what to do but sometimes someone needs to step up to the plate when it comes to encouraging us all to act in our best interest.  Powers to be tell us not to use tobacco but they don't demand we stop dipping, chewing or smoking.  The tell us not to drink and drive but they don't stop us filling up the trunks of our automobiles with as much beer as they can hold.  They tell us to get more exercise but they don't take away our sneakers or send the Fat Patrol to our house when we lay on the couch with the remote in our hand and a bowl of buttered popcorn between our legs.
     On a more personal note I hear it all the time "if I want to do it it's not hurting anybody but me".   I'll admit to using that phrase many times but rarely do I put it into practice anymore.  Am I better off for giving up the so call sins I've already referred to?  Yes but more so are all the rest of the people in the world. None of us want to live in a Nanny State but most of the time someone or something needs to protect us from our idiotic behavior.  Everyone should eat right, not drink and drive and get more exercise but that's never going to happen because we don't know what's best for us nor do we really care about our fellow man when it really comes down to it.  We want it our way no matter who tries to stand in the way.  I believe it was Oliver Wendell Holmes who said "your right to harm yourself stops when I have to pay for it"  but he also said " a man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer and attempting a task he cannot achieve"