Speaker Series Response

After listening to Andrew McGuire speak about fire-safe cigarettes and his life's work to save lives, I was left with a slightly cynical taste in my mouth.  Although Mr. McGuire's work has saved many lives and can be looked at as a incredibly positive, and worthwhile juncture, the fact that an issue with such a logical, reasonable, and feasible solution took almost 40 years of work to come into law.  There are so many institutions and corporations working against positive change in our nation to protect profits and financial interests that eliminating deaths from cigarette-caused house fires takes a backseat to revenue.  In the context of our class, Mr. McGuire's speech brought up one question in particular in my mind, at what point to social issues become prominent enough to evertake social norms?  For example, the civil rights movement took entirely too long to be realized in our country even though it is logical and reasonable to treat all equally.  Similar to the movement for fire-safe cigarettes, the fight for civil rights was not victorious until many lives had been lost in the flames of social unrest.