> My mother is dying of lung cancer from smoking right now.

I would like to say something encouraging, but can't think of anything fitting given the relative anonymity of this conversation.

> she would smoke around me despite it causing me and my sister to have asthma attacks

For me it was mostly my father. There was a time when everyone in my family (except me) smoked, but my siblings and my mother quit before or around the time when I got asthma. My father hung onto it for another 15 years. Then during a checkup, his doctor theorized that he may have lung cancer. The tests came back negative, but just visualizing this fate vividly caused my father to quit smoking from one day to the next.

are you saying fists should be outlawed in public spaces? I think you are, but it's ridiculous.

So how do we balance personal liberty with respect for others? I don't know the solution but welcome the discourse. Part of the problem I think is that the people who engage in these behaviors don't care very much for themselves, let alone others. I've often wondered if people who partake in cigarette smoking have a death wish of sorts, just unable to take the fast route.