After reading the latest article against second hand smoke I am compelled to relate to those comcerned the trail of destruction of this long time smoker, quitter, smoker again. At this particular time I am fifty seven years old. Certainly old enough to understand that cigarettes will cause multiple heath problems, not to mention ultimately death in some horrible form, including all the associated suffering of myself and those around me.
Yes ,I have read all the recent and not so recent articles on the subject and see all of the signs everyday somewhere that smoking is not allowed. Actually, I don’t think I have seen a sign anywhere that states smoking is allowed. By this time we all know that smoking is and will forever be socially unacceptable. All of us who smoke do not need to see a sign on each door we enter to understabd this everyday fact.
Many articles have been published to guide us in the right direction, signs have been posted, we get the point. However,has anyone taken the time to find out why millions of intelligent people are still smoking, wasting their money and literally killing themselves? Certainly there are as many reasons as there are people who still smoke.
My commentary is just one of those millions.
As with most of us smoking started when we were relatively young. Along with some of our friends in school we ( at the time ) thought it was part of growing up, trying cigarettes. Let the scientists do some research on why some tried it and forgot it, some were hooked for life. Personally, I was at a point where I could take it or leave it as a teenager, then a life altering occurence happened to me in July of nineteen sixty-nine, I recieved a letter from the United States Government that began with the fateful words ” Greetings from the President of the United States” . Those of you who also recieved this letter probably saved it as I did all theses years. Yes, it was the letter drafting me into the United States Army. For those of you reading this who are not familiar with our infamous wars, this was during the wonderful Vietnam years. With the delivery of this letter a person ( male by the way) had only two choices, leave your country behind and hide or be a patriot and serve your country. I will type this word again for those of you unfamiliar with the term, patriot. [google_bot_show][/google_bot_show]Aqua vape juice flavors at lowest cheap prices will be available when a comparison will be made. A budget can be prepared through the person to get the benefit. There will be no requirement of leaving the country for the purchase of the vape juice. An order can be placed at the online websites without additional charges.
The point of this last paragraph is to illustrate the tangled web the smoker gets into in the course of a lifetime. At the time I took the patriot route, followed the instructions in the letter, reported for duty, was sworn in to serve and protect the country. I am compelled to add that I was literally putting my life on the line in exchange for seventy five dollars per month. Not bad for a nineteen year old patriot. In the course of serving my country, my country was gracious enough to furnish me with something to eat from time to time, I emphasize from time to time, in the form of government issued C-rations. For those of you who have also served you know well of what I write.
Most of the time we were all glad to partake of these wonderful packaged foods, usaully prepared for us in a metal trash can full of boiling water to give us the effect of a hot meal. The key for me was inside the C-ration package with the little can of what ever it was to eat, usually a type of cracker, sometimes a small piece of chocolate, and always a small package of cigatettes. If memory serves me correctly, the ones I remember were Salem, Winston, and the ever popular Camels. The packages were small, only five to a package. Just enough to get a smoker by if he was in the field somewhere, or the jungle somewhere, or guarding an ammo dump at night in twenty-five degree below zero weather, alone.
Try visualizing these wonderful circumstances for a moment, sometimes you even got to have a constant cold rain to accompany you in the performance of your patriotic duties. To get to the point, for me my smokes gave me a strange kind of security at these times. Just myself and my smokes out there, in my mind a self- proclaimed hero of the times. Little did I know, that not only was there no one in the country who gave a danm about my suffering at the time, they were unwittingly adding to my lifelong suffering with those little packages of cigarettes with my food.
Of all the bleeding heart type of articles I have read in all the years since these times, I have not heard mention of the physical and phsycological addiction that the people of the good old United States helped to create by putting cigarettes with our food. Does anyone out there have information concerning this wonderful government policy? Unfortunately, this practice helped tobacco companies collect billions of dollars from all of us smokers. Wow, maybe I should sue somebody!
Certainly this narrative will be added to a pile of unknown papers in a remote corner of a storeroom to rot with similar ones. Let the one who reads it in earnest, who really cares about this issue take care. This is only one of the many reasons myself and others are still smokers. Moreover this is not meant to be an excuse to continue smoking, or that it is in any possible way a good thing, it is not. Quitting smoking is a heathful alternative for the body. Let us all consider the impact on the mind of the smoker who is forced by society to quit based on other peoples opinions of what is the right thing to do. For now I am still lighting up, thank you Uncle Sam for the free cigarettes, and the death and destruction and the ever present emotional upheaval of the Vietnam era. I salute you all. Got light on you, buddy?
