Are cigarettes good? They are fantastic, but not for you. They are good if you are the one selling those wonderful little sticks, which give people confidence, a token of royalty that people can buy for themselves with a few coins from the pocket… Premium tobacco quality, carefully selected and processed with such a refinement that only privileged ones are able to recognize, appreciate, acknowledge, and enjoy the majestic flavor hidden inside… Seriously, people?
Why are higher-educated people much less likely to smoke in comparison to people with lower education or no education in general? Higher education statistically, in general, means higher income as well as higher social status, in general as well. Does it mean that more educated people are smarter than people with lower education or no education at all? Are they wiser maybe? Is it easier to sell a dream to uneducated people? According to some research, households with lower income, usually, are more likely to smoke cigarettes than households with higher income; you can correlate this to many things easily. Lung cancer, various heart diseases, diabetes, liver cancer, erectile dysfunction, stroke, wonderful smell, and much more you can get for just a few coins—a lifetime opportunity, literally. On the other hand, dear smokers are delighted to pay for this with their own money. How so? Well, apart from all these mentioned benefits, there are a few more that make this package worth purchasing, a dream in a box.
A cigarette is a symbol of freedom, adultness, and maturity, so they say… With a cigarette in your hand, you are cool, you are confident, and you are strong. You know what you are doing; you are in control (are you?). This is what makes you consider the cigarettes as your loyal friend who will always be somewhere there for you to make your moment perfect, remarkable, special… You have the image of the famous actors and their famous scenes in famous old movies while they hold a cigarette. This is what makes you force yourself to smoke. To force yourself, because when you start, cigarettes are disgusting. Your lungs feel very bad because of it; you cough, and your throat feels like something wrong is happening. Eventually, you force yourself so hard until all of your defense mechanisms in your body are neutralized enough so you can inhale cigarette smoke undisturbed…finally! You made it; congratulations! You became cool, strong, and independent. So, now when you become all of that, all of your problems are solved and there is nothing to worry about anymore. Now you are officially a smoker, a proud individual who enjoys all the benefits that a single cigarette can provide. Fast forward, after some time the cool effect is long gone; here and there you try to look iconic with a cigarette in your hand. Sometimes it works, sometimes it looks ridiculous, but who cares at the end… Now you smoke because you like it, and you like it because you are addicted to it. The fact is, in most cases, you can’t even stop anymore, ha! There are people who don’t even like it, but they still buy their dose every day and consume it. Can it sound more ridiculous? You are not in control anymore; it became your habit, and you don’t think about it anymore. You don’t think about how this cigarette slowly digs inside your body and your mind; your brain wants more because it triggers senses of self-reward and relaxation. Your mind is anesthetized very deep. You look back, and you realize you have been smoking for 10, 20, or 30 years already. Tar in your lungs already has layers, and your breath is shallow. Organs full of tar from quit-smoking TV campaigns are the same as yours, actually, even if you never think about it. You never think about it, and you continue to buy cigarettes every single day as a loyal customer, a soldier of your own void.
On the other hand, you are an adult and master of your own destiny, at least you think you are. You make decisions in your life, and you are responsible for consequences, even if you don’t know what that means. Your health is real, and your image of being cool with a cigarette in your hand is a dream. I was smoking for a long time, long enough to take a look at myself and to be able to recognize an idiot. I consider myself a fairly smart person, but this time I failed. I was addicted; I ate fairy tales about cool men back then when I was a kid. Later on, I was smoking for no reason. I don’t want to waste words on various rationalizations and excuses. I tried to quit many times, solving my inner conflicts, knowing I will start again. Until I realized I was just an ordinary idiot who knew nothing about health issues back then when I started. I didn’t know, period. I thought it was a joke, something I ignored. Later when I learned, it was already a bit too late.
Is it worth telling all of this? I hope so because of all the insecure kids who have no idea about how smoking affects their health and how much damage actually can be done. When I say damage, I’m not talking only about your body; I talk also about your mind. Smoking package brings some patterns in your lifestyle as well. Something not even smokers are aware of. No one actually takes it seriously. All those numbers that show us that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in many countries… this is for real. Once you realize how many people you actually know died maybe 2, 5, or 10 years earlier because of smoking…ask yourself, please, why you are smoking. You can also calculate very easily how much money you gave to your lovely tobacco providers over a 10, 20, or 30-year period, but this is not the main point. My point is, your health (both mental and physical) is the most valuable asset you will ever have, priceless actually. Are you aware of what is really at stake here? Maybe your partner would like you to live longer, or maybe your kids would love to have you alive longer? Maybe you would like to live longer?
Imagine how crazy it sounds, the fact that you became a lifetime addict because of the cool image presented to you when you were a young adolescent. Is that ridiculous enough? Check what George Best said on his deathbed when lights were close to be out.
Good luck.
