I’m not
trying to knock anyone who smokes cigarettes, because I know for gosh darn
sakes there are things that I do that gross people out and that aren’t really
all that good for me, so for me to call someone else out would be very hypocritical
and I’m not about that.This piece is really just to question why, why do you smokers smoke, what’s the appeal? To me when I see someone smoking it looks like a cancer bomb about to go off, with the cigarette being the fuse. I just don’t understand with everything we know about these harmful little bastards why someone would consciously choose to fire one up.
I never smoked; I’m an L 7 (which means square to all you unhip people out there) so I never had the pleasure, or displeasure, of having one of those little smoking sticks hanging out from between my lips like as if I was sucking on a lollipop.
So I wonder, what is the appeal, do they really calm your nerves like some people say, do they taste “smooth” as the advertiser claim and/or does having one of those fiery sticks clutched in your hand make you look cool and all Fonzy like?
What made you decide to smoke, was it all the hype and/or peer pressure, the cartoon characters “pushing” them on you or was it just for something to do because you were bored? Maybe it was even something underhanded, like the big tobacco companies paying people off to smoke their product.
Are they
like a pro wrestler who has you in an emotional bear hug? A
girlfriend/boyfriend you love that you just couldn’t see your life without them
and even if they did leave, you would stalk them like crazy, restraining order
or not? Are they that addictive, would you ever suck a cocker spaniel for one
if you were broke? I find it crazy that people are running around blaming “big tobacco” for them smoking, that’s just as nutty as fat people blaming McDonald’s for them being fat. Stop pointing the finger people and put the blame where it belongs, which by the way, is on yourself.
These things seem like they are very powerful, a really hard habit to kick, at least from what I’ve witnessed from the sidelines. I mean there are patches/pills, electronic cigarettes and even support groups to beat this personal demon.
That just blows my mind, because I’m an overeater, and I’m not saying dieting isn’t hard, but I have never thought about wearing a pizza patch and/or eating an electronic cheeseburger. Now don’t go me wrong, a pizza patch sound de-lic-ious, but only if there’s no anchovies.
Also, those antismoking commercials are gross, disturbing, and should only be shown to smokers and people who are considering it. Nonsmokers, who know better than to smoke, shouldn’t have to endure that sickness.
Cigarettes should come in case where every time the smoker pulls out a cigarette it would play one of those commercials, we know they have the technology to pull it off, so why not.
I don’t want to be in the middle of dinner, watching Miley twerking on stage, and have one of them come on. I would lose my appetite with quickness and probably never be able to eat a triple bacon french fry cheese burger again without those images popping in my head again.
With all
the health risks, and not just to you but also to people around you, and the chunk
it takes out of your wallet, why keep doing it? What is it about cigarettes
that keep you smokers coming back, why can’t you just throw them in the air and
say muth humper I’m done and walk away without looking back? MJM
I tried it and never liked it. It made my heat hurt and made me feel like I had licked an ashtray. There are other bad habits that are a lot more fun in my book! :D
ReplyDeleteHurting heart and licking an ashtray, sounds like a good time to me.
DeleteHow lucky you are dear Terrye. I am one of those people in a straight jacket (in your wallpaper) trying so hard to stop!
ReplyDeleteFight the power! Throw those bitches away and don't ever look back.
DeleteI tried half of one once. It had 'fancy' baccy in it (not weed - something else, allegedly legal) that made my head go fuzzy and my tongue go furry. It was fun, but OHHHHHHHHHBOY did I reek afterwards. It was revolting.
ReplyDeleteI won't do it again.
Was it that spice crap that everyone is doing? You know the stuff that makes you think people are zombies so you eat their face off?
DeleteI'm going to take a leap here and assume that you really do want to know why smokers don't just stop. I'm going to try to help you develope some empathy. No BigTabacco blaming from me, btw.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 13, yes thirteen, I smoked my first cigarette. Why? Because everyone around me smoked and I wanted to, also. That was in 1963.
I have used the patches, the electronic cigarette, two different pills and hypnosis in my many efforts to quit. It has been an on going effort for the past 20 or so years. I've also tried cold turkey and a very sensible step down program. I've had varying results. I have quit from 3 days to over 3 months. I have always started again. You see, I am not addicted to nicotine. I am addicted to smoking. The physical habit of lighting, sucking, blowing and tasting the tobacco. I miss it when I trying to quit. I've never not wanted a cigarette. Not one day since I was 13.
Every half hour or hour for the last 50 years, I have had a cigarette. Is there anything in your life that you do every hour or every half hour? If not, then you can't imagine not doing that thing again. Can't fathom it, even after hypnosis.
I know smoking stinks. I know I stink. My home probably stinks, though itake pains to keep it fresh. I also know that all people have "things" that other people find offensive. I have never asked nor expected them to stop or get it out of my space. I leave if I'm offended.
I know most people believe smoking kills the smoker and the poor innocent bystanders. I do not believe that nonsense drummed up by the surgeon general back I the 70s. The studies are flawed and yes, I have read many. Finding people who were never exposed to second hand smoke would be very difficult to compare them to those who were, for accurate testing. Many thousands of people have died of lung cancer, mouth cancer or other cancers that never smoked a cigarette and never lived with a smoker. Explanation for that? Ummm, it can happen, but smoking makes sure it will happen. No, it doesn't. I have know people who smoked their entire lives and died of do age. I have also know smokers who died of one type or another lung disease. I have known non-smokers who died of lung disease. The studies are flawed, but this country managed to convince its second class and stinky citizens to keep their smoking away from everyone who's offended. We hear that we are a non-smoking country now. 45% of the people who smoked 10 years ago have quit. Look at any smoking area at any gathering place and you will see herds (as in cattle) of stinky second class citizens huddled into a too small space to smoke just one before heading back to whatever they have paid to see or do. A lot of people are still hooked and being discriminated against, but it doesn't matter because non-smokers have claimed their rights to be superior and we have allowed that.
I smoke because I a unable to stop. Plain and simpy.ni smoke because I do enjoy it, but my life would be much simpler if I didn't, so I keep trying. Repeated failure silvery good for your self-esteem, btw. Almost as good as being looked down upon by sanctimonious ex and never smoked people.
I hope that answered your curiosity, if it was really meant to be a serious question.
Thank you very much for the information, I really do appreciate it.
DeleteI was legitimately just wondering, because I never have, and never will smoke. Not just because I think it's gross, but also because I have really bad asthma and it would kill me if I did.
I hope I answered then. I am also very happy you were born late enough to miss all the hype and the general acceptance of cigarettes because it would be a huge loss if you died from such a choice.
DeleteNice to meet you, btw.
Yes, it did help clear things up. You are awesome and I really appreciate your response and feedback.
DeleteNice to meet you also.
Actually, MJM, I enjoy it. That sounds strange to one that has never smoked, but it gives me time to get away from others and reflect a little. Anymore, smoking seems to be a social disgrace. When I grew up, the ads were televised at every commercial break. "You can take Salem out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the Salem", "Us Tarryton smokers would rather fight than switch", "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should", "It's the cool taste of Kool", "Benson and Hedges is just a silly millimeter longer", etc. 40 years ago and they're still ingrained in my memory. Now, at my age, I really don't care about another minute or two of life. In fact, there are days that I simply say, "I'm tired." So, why give up something that I know pisses others off? There's no reason whatsoever! As I told a non smoker once, "I won't blow my smoke in your face and don't blow your bullshit in mine!" When I got my next job .... :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy it, really?
DeleteI'm glad I wasn't there for the commercials, because I'm too much of a wuss, I would have caved...especially if I thought it meant I would be cool.
Smoking doesn't piss me off, I just don't understand it, which I guess is a good thing.
By the way, I loved that line...freaking awesome.
I can't tell you how happy I am to not be a smoker. I smoked a little here and there in college if I was bored at a bar (yeah, I thought I looked pretty cool in my punk rock clothes, purple hair and a ciggy dangling from my lips) but it never really appealed to me. Mom was a chain smoker--I grew up hating that smell. Thankfully she quit years ago and at 85 is still doing well. Now about that pizza patch---I'd be first in line to buy it...but then I would probably end up eating the entire box of patches.
ReplyDeleteI am right there with you, I too am ecstatic that I am not a smoker. Thank God for asthma, or I'm sure I would have tried it once or twice...yuckie.
DeleteI have smoked and let me tell you, quitting sucks! I mean - it brings out the crazy in me... not that kind you want to associate with either. But I have tried those e things and I have tried those patches and the pills. The only thing that has worked is good hard determination. I have stopped several times from good old determination. Without them I feel like I can breathe better and I cough less... however I have to say... the allergies out here are really start to prove me wrong on the coughing thing. I will admit though that I occasionally like to sneak one and I love the feeling of exhiliration it gives me. But that lasts two seconds and is done. So save the 10 bucks a pack and just go hit your head against the wall. I have done both and the effects are the same!
ReplyDeleteWait, I thought you were born crazy...no. You shouldn't be sneaking any, you know better than that girl.
DeleteI've smoked too. And yes, they calm. They taste delicious. They're wonderful and NOT having them jus plain sucks. They are enjoyable and amazing. They suck to quit. Suck hard to quit. I'm glad you never started. I about killed my step daughter when she started smoking - talked to her a million hours about how hard it was for me to quit and that I wished a million times that I never started...
ReplyDeleteTell me how you really feel, don't hold back. It would seem that you are hot for the cigs, like they complete you.
DeleteI started smoking when I was an early teen, 14, maybe? I tried it because my neighbor and my bff told me I shouldn't. (That probably says a lot about me...)I felt older. I felt cool. I felt involved in a community (Smokers tend to flock together.) Later, I just enjoyed it. When I was ticked off, I'd smoke. Cigarette tasted great with my mixed drinks and $1 beers. Please it looked good when I was reading poetry and gesticulating. I quit maybe 8 years ago? I only fully realized I was now a quitter sometime last year when I thought,"What is that terrible smell?" And it was a group of smokers walking past me. They probably wondered why my eyes were so huge when I looked at them.
ReplyDelete14?! Gurl you really are hardcore! I'm 37 and still never tried one.
DeleteI'm married to a pulmonary physician/scientist whose research is in trying to find a cure for lung cancer---or even better treatments. He grew up with all the adults in his family smoking. I grew up with my father smoking -- filter-less Lucky Strikes, no less---in the car, with the windows rolled up if it was wintertime. He used to invite me to walk if I complained, but Dad finally quit when one of my sisters came home from a school trip, waved a surgical glove in his face, told him it had touched a diseased lung and then became hysterical, begging him to stop. He stopped. Cold turkey.
ReplyDeleteFor the person who says the evidence that smoking causes cancer is flawed -- according to my husband, if people stopped smoking, the amount of disease caused or worsened by smoking would decrease exponentially along with the all the money we spend on diagnosis and usually futile treatments. It is really bad for you. Don't do it. There are outliers --- folks who never smoked and get lung cancer and folks who smoked like a chimney and died of old age---like my husband's grandmother who smoked for many years (eventually quit) and lived to be almost 98 (not to mention her cholesterol level which was over 400!). However, his uncle and both parents died of diseases related to smoking -- in their 60's. (Which when you are that age, doesn't feel all that old.) The vast majority of folks who get lung cancer were smokers--- period.
Having said all this, the truth is that for some people, it is nigh unto impossible for them to quit. My son (the one who graduated with a degree in hotel and restaurant management ;-) is a project manager for an investigator studying smoking cessation. They have found that there is a genetic component for some people which makes it much more difficult for them to stop smoking.
Bottom line. If you don't smoke---for Godsake don't start. If you smoke, try to quit. We should not roll back the rules about no smoking around people who don't smoke and don't want to breathe it. The cigarette lobby in the western countries has figured out that they have pretty much lost the battle, but they're not all that concerned. They just peddle the stuff in less developed/educated countries. I will now step off my soap box and go make dinner.
You go girl, lots of good and useful information right there. You are so right, if you don't do it...keep it that way. There is nothing beneficial about smoking, for you and/or the people around you. Very well said, thanks so much for sharing my friend.
Delete