Reasons Series: Smoking

About a week ago, we were watching tv, and a commercial came on about smoking. If I remember right, it was anti-smoking. But I'm not sure--shows how much of an impact it made on me!

Anywhoo. Mom said, "Tim, tell me five things that are bad about smoking." He came up with them really fast, which kind of scared me. I wasn't scared that he knew all that; but it did scare me just to think of how much damage people are doing to themselves. I really ought to become an advocate. If only I had enough celebrity to get people to listen. (Hmm... note to self: become famous.) No, but really, it scared me. My grandmother used to smoke for years, from about age 17 or 18 til she was almost 70. We had a long conversation once about it when we were driving to the beach. I'll never forget how much she regretted ever starting. I'm so proud of her for quitting, though. I had already decided I never even wanted to get close to trying cigarettes, but she has strengthened my resolve. My grandfather, her husband, died of a heart attack at age 41, and he smoked. I know he would tell me never to start.

Mom's assignment for Tim to list those five reasons not to smoke got me thinking. I'm going to start a series of blogs about reasons--reasons to do things, and reasons not to do things. This first one is on reasons not to smoke. These reasons are only things that I can come up with, but I'm sure there are more. And let me preface this: I don't mean this as a condemnation on anyone. I have no idea how extremely hard it must be to quit smoking. I know there is a lot of pressure, especially in my generation, to smoke (whether tobacco or other things). But I wholeheartedly would encourage anyone who smokes to please quit. Quit for any of these reasons or other reasons entirely. Quit because of your grandkids. Quit for the environment. Quit for yourself. But find a cause, try to quit, and keep trying.

Here's my list.

Smoking dramatically increases your risk for all cancers, for heart disease, stroke, asthma, and I'm sure for other things that I didn't think of.

Secondhand smoke kills. If you think it doesn't affect others, all I can say is piffle. For more information, visit Secondhand Smokes You.

Smoking is bad for the environment in so many ways.

Cigarettes have so many carcinogens in them, it's unfunny.

Cigarette smoke stinks. It makes your breath smell bad. It makes everything smell bad. People notice.

Related to that last one, smoking is offensive to others. It will decrease your home's potential resale value, as well as that of your car.

You're at higher risk for a house fire, forest fire, etc., when you smoke. Yeah, actually, even lighting a fire right in front of my face would scare me. But people do it many times a day.

Cigarette injuries and burns are not pleasant. That's all I have to say about that.

Smoking darkens your teeth and your fingernails. Not to mention your lungs.

Smoking is crazy expensive! I don't know how people make it actually. I really don't. It is so pricy. If you smoke, just humor me and calculate how much you must spend per year on cigarettes. Yes, it is that much. Add onto that the increased cost of all types of insurance. Every type.

It really has to be hard to find ashtrays every time you want to smoke. I just can't really imagine that.

My mom has a great story on this point. Since both her parents smoked, she was fairly used to it being a part of life. When she was about 15, she tried to clean their globe. She wondered if it was supposed to be that color. She used 409. It went from a brown tinge to showing blue ocean. She was amazed. That kind of pertains to the environment point, too. But it really shows what happens to all the family's belongings.

So there you have it. Stop if you smoke. And never start if you don't.