This is something I wrote a while ago and had saved on my computer, something I feel strongly about. Beware; it's really long, but if you're a smoker give it a read.
I have been a smoker since the age of 17. Not one other person in my family smokes and when I first started the reactions I received from people were disgusting. I wasn't brought up in a house full of smoke and was never subjected to it when I was little, I admit I simply started smoking because like everybody else I was of the opinon it was 'cool'. I forced myself to start using cigarettes, absolutely hating every minute of it. Buying a pack of 10 Marlboro's every two weeks was a pathetic waste of money for someone who really is only trying to smoke because they think they look cool. Now, three years later, I am an obsessive chain smoker and I smoke more cigarettes than most people I know. I'm not proud of it and want to reduce the amount I smoke by about 6 but then the laziness comes in.
FOR: due to high influences from classic movies, classic movie stars, rock n' roll, most highly inspriational people, smoking was labelled as 'cool'. If the cowboy was standing at the edge of the arena he would look 10x 'cooler' with smoke oozing out his nostrils and a fag hanging out the side of his mouth. If Audrey in Breakfast at Tiffany's didn't have that cigarette holder, she wouldn't be Holly Golightly. If those jazz bars you got in New Orleans in the thirties weren't full of smoke, they wouldn't have half the appeal. To a certain extent, smoking is, or at least definitely used to be, 'cool'. Having said that, this was all before the scientists discovered the harmful effects smoking can cause and that it was responsible for most deaths caused by cancer. That definitely, is not cool.
Smoking is a comforting habit, a routine, a break, a method of relaxation/relief. Something to do while you're waiting for someone on a bench. Something to kill time. Something to use as an escape from awkward moments. Something to break awkward silences. Part of the sex appeal of smoking is essentially (as silly as it sounds) related to dragons. I actually read this somewhere, I forgot where, that breathing toxic fumes of smoke out of the nostrils and mouth automatically connects the human mind to a fire breathing dragon, also relating to exhileration, anger, comfort, any emotion that you would normally feel when you sigh. The more visibile the smoke is that comes out of your mouth and nostrils the more 'sexier' you look. Or it possibly could be, the unexplainable way the mind relates rebellion and not caring less about slowly killing yourself to being sexy.
What irritates me, and I'm sure other people will agree, is the fact that smokers are now their own subculture. We are labelled and seperated from everyone else. When you fill out those questionnaires (which are NOT related to NHS/health subjects) about which ethnicity you are, and how you needed to be treated seperately to everyone else, whether you smoke or not is always a question on there. People are now not only seperated from others for their race, religion or beliefs but also for being a smoker too. I've been places where the smokers have to stand inside the yellow box. This is literally, a squared off mini box painted on the tarmac to mark a small spot where the smoker is allowed to stand. It doesn't matter if the smoke itself passes outside the yellow lines but you are not allowed to move from the box when you're smoking. Therefore, every one who walks past stares at you and gives you filthy looks, you're being exiled from others for doing something that 40 years ago was not only morally excepted but COOL. If smoking cigarettes is something that needs to be done in secret and is illegal in most places, why not LEGALIZE marijuana?! Surely that would make sense?! Smoking is 100% legal outside, yet you still feel like you're doing something illegal when you are walking down the street with a cigarette in your hand, you try your hardest not to publicise the fact you're smoking and you try to hide the cigarette by cupping your hand around it. Or when you're walking out of somewhere indoors to go and have a cigarette outdoors and people give you disgusting looks as if it is so wrong to be walking around with an unlit fag in your mouth. Shock! Horror! She has an unlit cigarette! Call the fucking police! You sometimes get those extremely ignorant people who purposely walk directly into your smoke then either make snide remarks or cough extremely loudly. I have had this happen on countless occasions and even had my mother defend me (who hates smoking). It's not nice, I respect them for being non smokers and whatever else they are (arseholes to be honest) so they should respect me for being a smoker. It isn't affecting them, it's none of their business whether I want to damage my lungs or not. Stop seperating us from everyone else, as if stereotyping and labelling doesn't exist enough in this world already.
AGAINST: Smoking kills you. Smoking damages you. Smoking is bad for everyone around you who inhales the second hand smoke (which is infact much worse than the stuff you breathe in). It isn't nice for innocent children to be subjected to an apprently horrible smell when they're in a restaurant. Smoking costs too much money. Smoking is a waste, all you're doing is killing yourself, making yourself look old & haggard and making yourself smell of stale nicotine. It's not an attractive taste or an attractive smell. And it's definitely not attractive nor nice in the slightest when you're 60 years old and on your death bed on a life support machine because you can't speak because you've had to had your tongue cut out.
All in all, smoking is 100x worse for you than it is good for you. However, we all have to die of something. If it isn't one way then it's another and none are very pleasent, all are painful. If you smoke for 10 years of your life, it will take your body 10 years to recover back to it's original state before you started smoking. I am going to quit when I am in my mid to late twenties. I appreciate the fact that it will be more difficult because by then I will be more addicted, but it's all about willpower and how much you want to quit. I don't want to quit now because I am enjoying being young and I enjoy a cigarette. If you think what I'm saying is disgusting, don't read it. If you are a smoker and agree with all of the above, I appreciate support & feedback! Right, after all that I need a bloody fag.
FOR: due to high influences from classic movies, classic movie stars, rock n' roll, most highly inspriational people, smoking was labelled as 'cool'. If the cowboy was standing at the edge of the arena he would look 10x 'cooler' with smoke oozing out his nostrils and a fag hanging out the side of his mouth. If Audrey in Breakfast at Tiffany's didn't have that cigarette holder, she wouldn't be Holly Golightly. If those jazz bars you got in New Orleans in the thirties weren't full of smoke, they wouldn't have half the appeal. To a certain extent, smoking is, or at least definitely used to be, 'cool'. Having said that, this was all before the scientists discovered the harmful effects smoking can cause and that it was responsible for most deaths caused by cancer. That definitely, is not cool.
Smoking is a comforting habit, a routine, a break, a method of relaxation/relief. Something to do while you're waiting for someone on a bench. Something to kill time. Something to use as an escape from awkward moments. Something to break awkward silences. Part of the sex appeal of smoking is essentially (as silly as it sounds) related to dragons. I actually read this somewhere, I forgot where, that breathing toxic fumes of smoke out of the nostrils and mouth automatically connects the human mind to a fire breathing dragon, also relating to exhileration, anger, comfort, any emotion that you would normally feel when you sigh. The more visibile the smoke is that comes out of your mouth and nostrils the more 'sexier' you look. Or it possibly could be, the unexplainable way the mind relates rebellion and not caring less about slowly killing yourself to being sexy.
What irritates me, and I'm sure other people will agree, is the fact that smokers are now their own subculture. We are labelled and seperated from everyone else. When you fill out those questionnaires (which are NOT related to NHS/health subjects) about which ethnicity you are, and how you needed to be treated seperately to everyone else, whether you smoke or not is always a question on there. People are now not only seperated from others for their race, religion or beliefs but also for being a smoker too. I've been places where the smokers have to stand inside the yellow box. This is literally, a squared off mini box painted on the tarmac to mark a small spot where the smoker is allowed to stand. It doesn't matter if the smoke itself passes outside the yellow lines but you are not allowed to move from the box when you're smoking. Therefore, every one who walks past stares at you and gives you filthy looks, you're being exiled from others for doing something that 40 years ago was not only morally excepted but COOL. If smoking cigarettes is something that needs to be done in secret and is illegal in most places, why not LEGALIZE marijuana?! Surely that would make sense?! Smoking is 100% legal outside, yet you still feel like you're doing something illegal when you are walking down the street with a cigarette in your hand, you try your hardest not to publicise the fact you're smoking and you try to hide the cigarette by cupping your hand around it. Or when you're walking out of somewhere indoors to go and have a cigarette outdoors and people give you disgusting looks as if it is so wrong to be walking around with an unlit fag in your mouth. Shock! Horror! She has an unlit cigarette! Call the fucking police! You sometimes get those extremely ignorant people who purposely walk directly into your smoke then either make snide remarks or cough extremely loudly. I have had this happen on countless occasions and even had my mother defend me (who hates smoking). It's not nice, I respect them for being non smokers and whatever else they are (arseholes to be honest) so they should respect me for being a smoker. It isn't affecting them, it's none of their business whether I want to damage my lungs or not. Stop seperating us from everyone else, as if stereotyping and labelling doesn't exist enough in this world already.
AGAINST: Smoking kills you. Smoking damages you. Smoking is bad for everyone around you who inhales the second hand smoke (which is infact much worse than the stuff you breathe in). It isn't nice for innocent children to be subjected to an apprently horrible smell when they're in a restaurant. Smoking costs too much money. Smoking is a waste, all you're doing is killing yourself, making yourself look old & haggard and making yourself smell of stale nicotine. It's not an attractive taste or an attractive smell. And it's definitely not attractive nor nice in the slightest when you're 60 years old and on your death bed on a life support machine because you can't speak because you've had to had your tongue cut out.
All in all, smoking is 100x worse for you than it is good for you. However, we all have to die of something. If it isn't one way then it's another and none are very pleasent, all are painful. If you smoke for 10 years of your life, it will take your body 10 years to recover back to it's original state before you started smoking. I am going to quit when I am in my mid to late twenties. I appreciate the fact that it will be more difficult because by then I will be more addicted, but it's all about willpower and how much you want to quit. I don't want to quit now because I am enjoying being young and I enjoy a cigarette. If you think what I'm saying is disgusting, don't read it. If you are a smoker and agree with all of the above, I appreciate support & feedback! Right, after all that I need a bloody fag.
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