Before I start this one, I want you to know I have nothing against smokers. My favorite Uncle was an avid smoker who lived to the ripe old age of 55 (I’m 67). God, I liked that man. I miss him every day. Heck, my wife was a smoker. However, she quit because I didn’t want to kiss an ashtray. I told her that over 47 years ago, and she quit on the spot. She has told me she was grateful that I took that stand and that it might have prolonged our life together. Oh, don’t worry. I have my own guilty pleasure. I have an insatiable sweet tooth. I wish I could get that sucker pulled.
There are several things that bother me about smoking, and just The Other Day… I found one that surprised me. But if you have noticed this one, let me know. First, let me tell you the ones that a lot of us already know. It is a well-known fact that tobacco companies put substances into cigarettes that make them highly addictive. I know I’ve read multiple cases where people are so hooked they can’t let go. Secondly, for every cigarette you smoke, you knock off 7 minutes of your life. So if you smoke 100 cigarettes, you cut off 700 minutes from your life. That is almost 12 hours or half of an entire day. Then there’s the smell, yellowing fingertips the drying out of your skin. And that’s off the top of my head.
However, I was out at the cancer clinic on Tuesday. If you want a dose of reality go sit in that waiting room for an hour. You might be like my wife and me. We are so grateful to leave that portion of the hospital when we do. On the outside of the building, you see people who are there smoking (there is no smoking in the hospital, that I know of, their lives away. In the cold damp air, where there is a chill on every single breath they take, I never saw any of them smiling while taking a drag off of their cigarette. What I did see was an irritating squint when smoke rose up into their eyes. I saw people who looked malnourished, and they looked unhappy and unsettled.
Inside the waiting room was worse. Thinning hair, using oxygen, I know I shouldn’t, but I feel sorry for them. My wife has to go once a year because she had breast cancer. While I am there to support her, I just feel so lost and hurt that nothing can be done to allow those people some peace of mind while they are being treated. One thing I do notice that I do before, during, and after I leave the cancer center. I pray. I try to distract myself, but I can’t. If you or anyone you know is considering smoking, and you want to give them a dose of reality, take them to the cancer clinic.
I realize that not everyone being treated at the clinic smokes. However, their cancer needs a place to treat it as well. Those people who go through there are of every shape and size, cultural diversity, sexual diversity, and so on, and they are there for one reason only, they have cancer. They want or need to be treated, and Ladies and Gentlemen, sometimes the picture of that treatment is extremely ugly.
I realize that every time I go to that clinic, is see things I shouldn’t. It bothers me, and so I sit here and think about what I saw, and I just get sad and depressed. To think in some cases, people bring that on themselves by choosing cigarettes over gum or mints or something less destructive. Then there’s the other group who get cancer just by being alive. They are all put in the same clinic for treatment. Why? I don’t know. I do know we can cut those numbers (Possibly) in half by not smoking, rubbing, or using tobacco products.
You know, if they can make energy to run our electric plant by using the sun or water, why can’t we find ways to use the tobacco plant in a positive manner as well? Instead of encouraging people to smoke their lives away. I believe that’s more than enough on this subject. Don’t forget to smile if you can. Everyone needs to see something uplifting every single day. MUH!! (152 views)
