Ice cream and cigarettes

I went out for ice cream with my girlfriend yesterday.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, in fact. And boy, was it a treat.

The whole place smelled like waffles and vanilla. There were colors and flavors galore, and dozens of smiling faces.

Not far away, along the nearby street, I saw many people smoking cigarettes.

None of them were smiling. In fact, many of them were hunched over, grimacing while they did it, as if performing some chore.

Almost everyone was alone.

It’s a curious irony that something that starts from a desire for ever more human connection can cause such alienation. After all, people rarely start smoking because they actually enjoy it. It’s more about the social cohesion it creates.

I wonder how many nicotine-addicts wish they’d simply gone out for ice cream with their friends, instead. What might have been.

In any case, the world could use a little more ice cream. Don’t you think?