Constitution doesn't give anyone the right to breathe

Editor,

I am deeply distressed with everybody on this campus who thinks there is a constitutional right to breathe. That's correct. All you people whining about smokers ought to get it straight: There's no such thing as the right to breathe, so just get over it.

True, there is a right to free speech, and you have to breathe to speak, but you don't have to breathe to write, and this letter proves it. I'm calling for a

national ban on breathing, and it starts here at UNM. The "All-University, All-College Breatheout" will make headlines. For motivation, just think how disgusting it is to walk through a group of breathers clustered around the Humanities Building entrance where gross clouds of stale, used breath clings to your hair and clothing as you are forced to cower by on the way

to class.

Maybe some of these offenders omitted brushing teeth this morning. Maybe some had the Chick-fil-A garlic and castor oil breakfast burrito. This intrusive and obnoxious inhaling and exhaling must come to an end. It's destroying the contemplative atmosphere that's supposed to mark academia, and there's no scientific proof that breathing has ever done anything for anyone anyhow, so let's have a bit of willpower and just cut it out.

The breatheout will begin noon on Wednesday. The concrete tunnel sculpture by Mitchell Hall will serve as our gathering point. A crowd of dedicated students and faculty will show the world what academic discipline is all about.

James Burbank

UNM student