The Dirty Habit of Smoking

A majority of those who are addicted to smoking realize the fact that smoking is harmful, yet they are helpless when it comes to quitting the habit. It’s an absurdity—because for them, every last cigarette becomes a frequent beginning, and there remains the cycle of addiction.

“Do you like smoking?” I asked my colleague, who is a gentleman, well qualified, a man of ethics enjoying a managerial position.

“No”, he said.

“Do you agree that smoking is harmful”? I asked him thoughtfully.

“Yes”, he said.

“Are there any benefits from smoking”? I asked him, with simplicity.

His reply was “No”.

“Do you feel happy after smoking”? I asked him, with inquisitiveness.

He replied,“No”.

“Then, tell me why do you smoke”? I asked him, without any hesitation.

He gave a quick reply: “It’s an addiction”.

“How many cigarettes do you smoke in a day”? I asked him like a data collector for some statistics.

“Two packs (meaning 40 cigarettes)”, he said unhappily and helplessly, as if ashamed of his own dirty habit of smoking.

“Don’t you want to quit”? That was my last question to know how much he is determined to give up smoking.

“Yes, I want to quit…I can’t even run 500 meters…going up and down the stairs I breathe heavily…”, he ended up there, without saying from what moment, from which day he wants to quit the habit.

I felt pity for him and said to myself, “Hey, dude, c’mon…you know that it’s harmful, and you desire to quit, then harboring these notions you still smoke 40 cigarettes a day. Expensive smoking…burning of money…and I think it’s a weird addiction that keeps itself on the go, and sickens your conscience.”

Strange…smokers are aware of ill effects of smoking and when it comes to quitting they are lethargic. Cigarette smoke gives them no lasting euphoric feeling, but only turns them to get a craving for more smoking. Smokers look sullen with addiction—when they suck on cigarettes, inhale smoke into their lungs, and emit out stinking fumes from their noses.

Why do people smoke, making their nostrils little chimneys and coating their lungs with harmful layers of tar and toxins?

Smokers do agree that they harm themselves with this addictive nature, but they also describe their smelly habit as unmanageable.

Sometimes, we find smokers so nasty…even, at places, where there’s a placard mentioning “Smoking Prohibited” or “No Smoking Area” they furtively smoke. For them, it is as if ‘rules are made to be broken’.

There’s a category of habituated smokers, with false notions that smoking gives a kick to their minds, relieving it of stress, tension and disturbing thoughts or keeping off the troubles of the day. That’s plain stupidity.

Those who take up smoking or those who fail to quit smoking must be aware that how dangerous it is when nicotine gets into the blood. People who are “classy smokers” qualify cigarettes by taste and brand—this one is a tough, hard cigarette and that one a low tar, light one. But cigarettes are just cigarettes, and it cannot be claimed that ‘mild’ cigarettes eliminates the risk of cancers and diseases.

Imagine how many millions of smokers are taking a decade off their lives by sucking carbons, nicotine and tar into their lungs.

Here are my straight questions to smokers: Are you not tired of smoking? Don’t you realize even after noticing your failing health? Why is it so difficult to kick the habit? Do you lack confidence to quit? Do you want to hurt your family or disappoint them with your smoking habit? Can’t you do better and stop wasting your life smoking? Wouldn’t you prefer to quit smoking to stay alive?

It is better to quit the bad habit of smoking before it’s too late.