Rob47,
Kudos for this post! I have a golfer friend, Tom, who is 51 I believe, and who has smoked since he was 13. About 6 months ago he moved to a new apartment and I was hoping he would make the choice not to smoke in it. Well, that didn't happen and the place just reeks now. Anyway, since he moved there I have only been over twice, once right after he moved in and this past Friday. He had invited me over there many, many times and I always gave him some excuse. Well, when I was there Friday (to work on his computer) he brought up the subject of why I hadn't been over much. I finally came out and told him that I just no longer wanted to be in a closed environment with a smoker. He was obviously upset and told me that I was letting cigarettes come between me and my friends. I told him that I very much enjoyed his friendship and our golf, but it was my choice not to want to subject myself to direct second hand smoke. On and on we went.
Finally he told me that he was quitting after his vacation in July. I asked him why. He told me that it's just not fun anymore and that everyone is down on him.. society in general. He takes 3 smoke breaks at work, one in the morning, lunch and mid afternoon. His boss monitors the lengths of his morning and afternoon breaks and really frowns on his smoking. Places he used to go to are now banning smoking inside. He lamented about how odd it was that a legal product was so frowned upon. I reminded him of the tax money the various governments make off cigarettes. For that reason alone, smoking and tobacco will never be banned.
Anyway, the point being that he is another one who is in good health but yet he is quitting due to negative pressure from society. Is that good? Well, he will no doubt sruggle with his quit and never fully appreciate being quit. No, not everyone gets ill from cigarettes. Unfortunately one hell of a lot of people do, at least to some degree, suffer physically from it. Those few who don't are the anomalies. Seeing it as a blessing or a curse is in your and only your perspective.
I've never been a fan of peer group pressue, but in this case, the pressure brought to bear on smokers is a good thing. The paradox here is that many of us started due to peer pressure.. and now many
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Quit Meter
$36,544.80
Amount Saved
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Quit Meter
Days: 9392
Hours: 13
Minutes: 18
Seconds: 9
Life Gained
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45681
Smoke Free Days
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Quit Meter
365,448
Cigarettes Not Smoked
