3 ms·

I'm collecting little stories like these to show my kids as they hit their teens. Everyone does a few dumb things while they are teenagers. A frighteningly la

by jtheory 12y ago

I'm collecting little stories like these to show my kids as they hit their teens. Everyone does a few dumb things while they are teenagers. A frighteningly large number of teens (esp. here in France) start smoking. Choose something else, please! It'd probably be better to get pregnant; we'll be here to help you stay in school etc., and having a kid can be quite a difficult commitment for a few years, but gradually gets easier. It will make some things harder in your life, but it won't generally shut many doors. Starting smoking is a lifelong commitment that will never have a positive payoff beyond "hey a little buzz", has a decent chance of a fucking horrible cost (hello, young people with cancer) if you have the wrong genes, and relatively-horrible costs even if you don't (having a lower quality of life when you're old and dying younger, yes, but also the financial cost is staggering -- the cost of the cigarettes is just a bit of it; you'll pay more for health/homeowners/car/life insurance, everything you own and might re-sell will have lower value, if you start a fire like one of the hundreds of thousands of other smokers who do in any given year, you'll pay for that, etc.). Or you may quit, and live the possibly-quite-unpleasant life of an addict who has quit their addiction. See above; it can suck intensely, and you will crumble, you will choose "worse life with" vs. "worse life without" and construct flimsy rationalizations around it, but the only winning move is not to play. I lost two grandparents early to smoking-related illness/cancers, and I have a once-smoking friend who got lung cancer when she was 20, though she's still alive, so I can make sure they won't have any illusions about "the bad outcomes only happen to other people". [huh, this didn't start as a rant, but it sure is one now.]

csnewb 12y ago
How many months/years has your friend been smoking for? I'm 23, and picked up smoking 5 months ago. I smoked heavily during this time period, but quit and went back to my healthy/athletic lifestyle. Stories like yours scare the hell out of me.
- lrem 12y ago
  Then you'd better make sure you know your surroundings. In my building we've had quite a few of diseases, including a ~10 year old dying to brain tumors, attributed to a bad floor glue. At some point the social insurance paid the inhabitants the reconstruction costs to get rid of it. It's called "lepik asfaltowy" (asphalt glue-ish?) in Polish, there's no Wikipedia page for it in any other language.
tunap 12y ago
I cannot deny I wish I had never gotten hooked. That doesn't mean I do not care or am making flimsy excuses. I am personally responsible for every choice I make, whether I like the results or not. To benefit my health I live a very non-sedentary lifestyle, drink a liter of water every day(minimum, I live in a desert), eat fresh veggies and home prepared meals daily and rarely eat fast food as it makes me feel heavy & uncomfortable(same goes for chips, bakery sweets, candies, etc). I do not take any pharmaceuticals and do not smoke tailpipe exhaust commuting daily(which is worse?). When not working & walking/smoking on breaks, I am hiking desert washes and game trails. Oh yeah, I'm a butt nazi, too...just because the ignoramuses on the big screen do it, doesn't mean flicking butts is not littering and I couldn't live with myself if I caused a fire that destroyed my playground. My point is, besides the cigs, the marketing department would label me a health nut...6'0" @ 165lbs and still able to carry 80lbs compressors up a ladder or stone a 2000sqft floor when I have off-time from the keyboard. Thanks to the cigs, this witch hunt has made me a 2nd class citizen all the while the majority benevolently deride me while eating big macs, popping 'good' pills to 'manage' their weight problems, idly watching their 'shows' while smoking equivalent fumes in their vehicles everyday. PS: I had three schoolmates with cancer by 9th grade, none smoked, they just lived in N/W Indiana of which they had no choice(I was a transplant). Edit: I NEVER smoke indoors, hate the stale cig smell more than most. My nose olfactory senses are still quite acute at 42yo.

by jtheory 12y ago

csnewb 12y ago

How many months/years has your friend been smoking for? I'm 23, and picked up smoking 5 months ago. I smoked heavily during this time period, but quit and went back to my healthy/athletic lifestyle. Stories like yours scare the hell out of me.

lrem 12y ago
Then you'd better make sure you know your surroundings. In my building we've had quite a few of diseases, including a ~10 year old dying to brain tumors, attributed to a bad floor glue. At some point the social insurance paid the inhabitants the reconstruction costs to get rid of it. It's called "lepik asfaltowy" (asphalt glue-ish?) in Polish, there's no Wikipedia page for it in any other language.

tunap 12y ago

I cannot deny I wish I had never gotten hooked. That doesn't mean I do not care or am making flimsy excuses. I am personally responsible for every choice I make, whether I like the results or not. To benefit my health I live a very non-sedentary lifestyle, drink a liter of water every day(minimum, I live in a desert), eat fresh veggies and home prepared meals daily and rarely eat fast food as it makes me feel heavy & uncomfortable(same goes for chips, bakery sweets, candies, etc). I do not take any pharmaceuticals and do not smoke tailpipe exhaust commuting daily(which is worse?). When not working & walking/smoking on breaks, I am hiking desert washes and game trails. Oh yeah, I'm a butt nazi, too...just because the ignoramuses on the big screen do it, doesn't mean flicking butts is not littering and I couldn't live with myself if I caused a fire that destroyed my playground. My point is, besides the cigs, the marketing department would label me a health nut...6'0" @ 165lbs and still able to carry 80lbs compressors up a ladder or stone a 2000sqft floor when I have off-time from the keyboard. Thanks to the cigs, this witch hunt has made me a 2nd class citizen all the while the majority benevolently deride me while eating big macs, popping 'good' pills to 'manage' their weight problems, idly watching their 'shows' while smoking equivalent fumes in their vehicles everyday. PS: I had three schoolmates with cancer by 9th grade, none smoked, they just lived in N/W Indiana of which they had no choice(I was a transplant). Edit: I NEVER smoke indoors, hate the stale cig smell more than most. My nose olfactory senses are still quite acute at 42yo.