Peggy Phlegm.

Once again, I've just got to say it: thank God for Olympic Gold Medalist Peggy Fleming.

She is truly the voice of sanity in a world gone mad. As you probably know, the World Health Organization recently estimated that tobacco will kill up to a billion people in the 21st century, 10 times as many as it killed in the 20th.

Ten times more. That's quite a few people.

I have to wonder if Peggy would have enjoyed the success she has if she were a smoker. Perhaps not. Perhaps she would have worked at a Dry Cleaners and made dear Kathleen's good sweaters smell funny. Perhaps all those posters lining dear Kathleen's bedroom walls would have featured a different skater, or perhaps there would be no posters at all.

Therefore, thank God for Peggy Fleming. Thank God for her resolve and persistence. And while you're at it, say a prayer for the one billion (read that again--it has a "b") people who will die of tobacco-related illness during the next ninety years . Let's hope the World Health Organization has their numbers wrong.

Ever~~

Basia