If you knew that something could kill you, why would you take any part in it?
It sounds so simple. Don’t pick up the cigarette. It is bad for you. It can kill you. But if it is so simple, why do people still do it?
According to the Center for Disease Control, tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Think about that. You have complete control. You can increase your chances of living just by one single action. You can live longer because you decided not to smoke.
Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans a year. That is one in every five deaths in the United States. Mortality among men and women smokers is about three times higher than those who have never smoked. The life expectancy for a smoker is at least 10 years shorter than nonsmokers.
Think of those odds.
Why would you want to be that one? Don’t you want those 10+ years? Think of how much you can do and how much can happen in a decade. Why would you want to decrease your chances of living for cigarettes?
The worst part of it all? This isn’t news to most people. Most people are well aware of these statistics. We know that smoking can lead to cancer, heart problems, emphysema, etc. I grew up in D.A.R.E classes and middle school assemblies that existed to make sure we didn’t smoke. They told the horrific stories and showed vivid pictures of lungs destroyed by cigarettes. Still I see a picture online of a girl I went to high school with holding a cigarette to her lips. I step outside of a party and am immediately greeted by the puff of smoke blown in my face.
So why? If you “know it all,” why do you still do it? Do people still think it looks “cool”? Personally, I don’t find it cool to see a person ruining their health, so I don’t know where that idea comes from. You’re destroying your body with every puff you take, so why?
“My body, my choices"? Newsflash: It isn’t just your body. More than 41,000 of cigarette related deaths are due to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke causes 7,333 annual deaths from lung cancer and 33,951 deaths from heart disease. So not only are you harming yourself, you are harming the innocents around you who decided not to engage in this slow suicide. The mother who smokes around her kids in the privacy of her own home? The friend who drags you outside of the bar for a smoke? The person who blows the cloud in your face as you walk by? They’re hurting more than just themselves.
When I was six years old and watching someone I love fall ill with cancer, I made a promise to myself that I would never smoke. I promised myself that I would never even try a cigarette, just to see what it’s like. Other people have made this promise too. Why should they suffer because others have some insane notion that cigarettes are OK?
Thankfully, cigarette use has decreased over the years. According to studies done by the CDC, while 42.4 percent of adults were smokers in 1965, only roughly 19 percent were smokers in 2011. Over the course of time between 1991 and 2011, the percentage of students who smoked one or more times throughout the survey dropped 9.4 percent. While these numbers are incredible progress, it is not enough. The numbers are not enough when there are still nearly 500,000 Americans being murdered by cigarettes each year.
If you knew something could kill you, why would you do it? If you knew something was bad for you, why would you smoke it? Don’t pick up the cigarette. If you already did, put it down. Don’t pollute your body and others' bodies. You may not feel it now, but smoking is a gradual killer. It will catch up with you, and it will not be pretty. It will be painful and sad and hurt those who love you. Don't spend the final years of your life regretting the choices of your youth because they took away more time. Making the right decision can save your life, the lives of others, and set a life-changing precedent for the future.
