Some of you may smoke, I don't know. If you do, you need to quit. I know it's not easy, but it's the agony that you will go through when you die, and the agony that you will put your loved ones through, that should motivate you now. I know. I've seen it first hand. (This includes pot, by the way, which is more carcinogenic than cigarettes. If you feel the need to enjoy illegal drugs, smoking is the worst avenue you can take.)
I've seen a woman die as I stood there, drawing her last rattling breath in front of me. You will never forget hearing The Death Rattle. It is a hideous, pervasive noise that fills an entire house. I've watched relatives and close family friends as they died, tortured, over a long period of time.
Please don't tell me that George Burns smoked till he was 100 and didn't die of lung cancer. I've heard it so often. George Burns is the exception, not the rule. There are always exceptions, but the odds are stacked against you.
I am so surprised and saddened to see how many teenagers are smoking. I never imagined that smoking would continue on in the new generations as it has. I thought that by now the only people left smoking would be the old diehards. I mourn for every family that has such a foolish teen in it. Their siblings (or possibly even their parents) will see the tragic results of their bad habit some day.
8 comments:
Saur, I wonder how many of those teens that smoke were raised by parents that smoke? One of the best things a parent can do for a child is to exhibit the behaviours they want of their children. That includes not smoking
As regards George Burns, he was at the far end of the bell curve. What people forget is that there are folks (myself included) at the other end of the curve for whom smoking is like tossing a match into a room full of dynamite. Very BAD news
You know how I feel about this topic. Thank you for the post
My grandmother on my dad's side was a smoker. And she paid the price - she died because of the big C. And you are right, it was terrible. She did not have the death rattle, but she did have cancer in multiple places.
I do not smoke tobacco. Nor anything else for that matter. I have friends who do, but I just never picked it up. The very short period of time I did smoke unfiltered cigarettes ended one morning with a 6 AM smoke, then a 6:02 AM vomiting in the bathroom. That was it for me.
But your graphic leads to some questions. DDT in tobacco? DDT is not used anymore. I do not think it is made anymore.
I would like to do an analysis of cigarette smoke myself, just to see if all those chemicals are really in the smoke. Giving kids information that they later discover to be wrong totally discredits everything else you have told them.
It is more than 11 years now that I gave up smoking.
You are right. It is something that people need to quit. But it is difficult and the person himself/herself needs to be ready.
Great post.
When I was about 5 or 6, I asked my Aunt Mary for a puff. She let me ~ and that was enough! The gagging cough and ickiness was all I needed to never have the urge again. Sadly, she wasn't able to quit herself.
Mallory, I think it was your initial post that pushed me into thinking about it more. That, and something more personal that brought it home to me again.
Lazy Iguana, good. You are too cute to let the smoke destroy your skin like that. ;o) You could be right about the DDT. I wondered that myself.
Barbara, Good for you. I know how hard that was. I've seen loved ones quit.
Dddragon, my very beloved aunt died of it about 6 months ago. I tried so hard to be strong but sobbed through her funeral. I still get teary thinking about it as I write. She was so very special to me. I think she probably never realized how important she was to me as a child. She was one of the few people that loved and accepted me as I was (an intellectual geek) before I became pretty and was accepted by people for all the wrong reasons. She tried to quit so many times, but often laughed it off... to the grave, I am so sorry to say. My favorite grandmother also died of lung cancer. Those of us left behind feel the gaping wound they've left in their place.
I've never even tried a cigarette. My mother used to chain smoke; the house, car, and my clothes used to smell. It was enough to turn me off completely.
Mom quit about 15 years ago and is a healthy 75.
Great post. Smoking certainly didn't help Peter Jennings' lungs. It's a serious, horrible habit. I know it's terribly hard to quit, though.
Aral, very true. Strange, because I heard about Peter Jennings later in the day. I hadn't known he'd died when I wrote this.
Fred, my mom and her sibs never smoked, because their parents did and they have the same memories that you do of it.
Acton Bell, I had no idea that weight gain was tied to smoking. Interesting!
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