Hey, Don’t Take Up Smoking - It’s Silly!
When I was younger, my mother used to always tell me, “Don’t take up smoking! If you don’t start, you never have to quit.” I would nod, obediently, and solemnly vow to never smoke. Whenever I heard a newscaster rattle off data about how the children of smokers were more likely to take up the habit, I would resolve that I would be the one to buck the trend and shun cigarettes.
Then I took up smoking.
As the product of two longtime smokers, I was always surrounded by smoke. Throughout my childhood, there was a hand-rolled cigarette permanently perched on my Dad’s bottom lip, while my mother forged her way through one pack of Marlboro Reds a week. Despite their own personal habits, their rhetoric was always the same - don’t smoke. And I didn’t. That is, until twelve months ago, when curiosity got the better of me.
I had always regarded smokers with a pinch of disdain. It seemed to indicate a weakness on their part and I generally saw myself as being better than them. Additionally, the whole thing seemed pointless to me. You’re inhaling smoke into your lungs. What could you possibly be getting out of that?
Then I tried it. One day, I stole a cigarette from my mother - yes, my story is as hackneyed as that - and the rest is history. Some people take to smoking more than others and I was one of those people. Despite being aware of how inherently gross it was, I loved it and I immediately purchased my own pack of Marlboro Lights. (Funny story - I smoke Marlboro Lights because that is what Carrie Bradshaw smoked in Sex and the City and I am a dork.) Smoking quickly became a regular occurrence and once I returned to college, I was smoking with the same frequency as I was eating square meals. That is still where I am at.
I think I am still in my honeymoon period with smoking; I enjoy it a lot and I am willing to ignore the hacky cough I have developed as a result of it. Additionally, I am still semi-operating under the misguided notion that smoking is cool. Newsflash: it’s not. And I know this! And you know this! But in case you forgot and are an impressionable tween, I thought I would reiterate it. Smoking is a waste of time. Listen to the PSAs and your parents and just don’t bother with it. Sound good?
(If you want to talk some more, I will be standing outside in the smoking area and wishing I had listened to my mother.)