tobacco choices
Peter Jennings died this week of lung cancer. Christopher Reeves' wife announced she's dying of lung cancer. Larry King did the opportunistic thing and had a show last night on lung cancer. His guests were people who had loved ones who died of lung cancer and one guy who was the 'Winston Man' in commercials and is now on an anti-tobacco company crusade.
I watched Larry King interview these people last night and turn his show into a crusade against tobacco companies. I don't like tobacco companies. I think they are deceitful bottom feeders, which also happens to be my opinion of lawyers, but that's another story. I don't, however think they are to blame for anyone's addiction who is younger than I am. Larry asked each of those people who lost loved ones to smoking and lung cancer if they were mad at the tobacco companies, and every one of them said yes. I sat there and said, "You people are putting the blame in the wrong place."
I used to smoke. I started when I was 16 in a stupid attempt to be cool, and I quit when I was 39 in a New Years resolution (one of the few I actually kept). I had lots of help in the form of society, which made smoking harder and harder to do conveniently. One December day I was standing outside my workplace (because it was smoke free) trying to light a cigarette in the rain and the absurdity of it all hit me. It was too hard. It was killing me. I needed to stop. I don't know what year it was when people actually knew smoking kills you. I know it was before my time, because when I made that stupid decision, I knew. I knew and I did it anyway. That wasn't Winston's fault. That wasn't Phillip Morris's fault. That was my fault. I may still suffer for that decision and if I do, I have nobody to blame but me. I have nobody to be mad at but me. I made the stupid decision when I was 16 and even then I said to myself, "It's my life and if I suffer because of this, it's nobody else's business. I can do what I want." I was right, but with that choice comes the responsibility of the consequences. Nobody shoved that cigarette in my mouth but me. I used to joke that I smoked the ones where the warning had something to do with women who were pregnant, because those wouldn't affect me, but I knew what I was doing.
People blame the tobacco companies for making it addictive and marketing it and basically, for giving you that opportunity to use their product. They make the choice available to you. You still have to choose to use it though, and when you do, you have only you to blame.
I watched Larry King interview these people last night and turn his show into a crusade against tobacco companies. I don't like tobacco companies. I think they are deceitful bottom feeders, which also happens to be my opinion of lawyers, but that's another story. I don't, however think they are to blame for anyone's addiction who is younger than I am. Larry asked each of those people who lost loved ones to smoking and lung cancer if they were mad at the tobacco companies, and every one of them said yes. I sat there and said, "You people are putting the blame in the wrong place."
I used to smoke. I started when I was 16 in a stupid attempt to be cool, and I quit when I was 39 in a New Years resolution (one of the few I actually kept). I had lots of help in the form of society, which made smoking harder and harder to do conveniently. One December day I was standing outside my workplace (because it was smoke free) trying to light a cigarette in the rain and the absurdity of it all hit me. It was too hard. It was killing me. I needed to stop. I don't know what year it was when people actually knew smoking kills you. I know it was before my time, because when I made that stupid decision, I knew. I knew and I did it anyway. That wasn't Winston's fault. That wasn't Phillip Morris's fault. That was my fault. I may still suffer for that decision and if I do, I have nobody to blame but me. I have nobody to be mad at but me. I made the stupid decision when I was 16 and even then I said to myself, "It's my life and if I suffer because of this, it's nobody else's business. I can do what I want." I was right, but with that choice comes the responsibility of the consequences. Nobody shoved that cigarette in my mouth but me. I used to joke that I smoked the ones where the warning had something to do with women who were pregnant, because those wouldn't affect me, but I knew what I was doing.
People blame the tobacco companies for making it addictive and marketing it and basically, for giving you that opportunity to use their product. They make the choice available to you. You still have to choose to use it though, and when you do, you have only you to blame.
John put this out here at 7:08 AM
2 Comments:
I never made the choice to smoke... I have spent the majority of my life hassling my mom about her habit... and she has given up... but it never lasts
hassling does not help, jo. you are wasting your time. it would be far better served making sure your mom knows how much she means to you.
Despite knowing all the horrible things that smoking does to you, it's very difficult to quit, and quite impossible if you don't really want to. And after all that work, it is still all too easy to go back.
are you sure you were inspired by jennings, john? I agree completely, BTW, it's absurd when people blame the tobacco companies, at least these days. Sure, they withheld information, but long before I started smoking (1994).
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