Quit Smoking

Anybody can quit smoking.

The smart thing about it is that it has immediate and long-term health and financial benefits.
Not just you but your family and co-workers are affected by your "problem".
If you don't want to stop for yourself, then remember that you are contributing to the killing of family and innocent people around you.
When I worked in a hospital, I saw 2 things that I never forgot.
One was watching a man die from emphysema and coughing himself to death despite the staff clearing his lungs as much as possible.
I also saw a set of lungs in an autopsy that were from a man who had smoked. Very scary stuff!

The US Surgeon General says the following:

"Smoking is the single greatest avoidable cause of disease and death."
"Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke."

Innocent Children

"Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma.
Smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children."
"Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer."
"The scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke."
"Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to second hand smoke.
Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke."

Facts from the Surgeon General:

"Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,1 accounting for approximately 1 of every 5 deaths (438,000 people) each year".

• An estimated, 20.8% of all adults (45.3 million people) smoke cigarettes in the United States.4


• Cigarette smoking estimates by age are as follows: 18–24 years (23.9%), 25–44 years (23.5%), 45–64 years (21.8%), and 65 years or older (10.2%).4


• Cigarette smoking is more common among men (23.9%) than women (18.0%).4


• Prevalence of cigarette smoking is highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (32.4%), followed by African Americans (23.0%), whites (21.9%), Hispanics (15.2%), and Asians [excluding Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders] (10.4%).4


• Cigarette smoking estimates are highest for adults with a General Education Development (GED) diploma (46.0%) or 9–11 years of education (35.4%), and lowest for adults with an undergraduate college degree (9.6%) or a graduate college degree (6.6%).4


• Cigarette smoking is more common among adults who live below the poverty level (30.6%) than among those living at or above the poverty level (20.4%).4"
  

My own words here:

  I was at the Olympics in 1980 (Lake Placid NY) working in the entertainment field, and I met a girl in the laundromat. Her name was Mary Beth Zirkle (I remember correctly) she was a torch relay runner. That day she had run 10 miles with her laundry in her backpack. She came sauntering into the laundromat at the end of her run just barely breathing a little heavier than normal. I couldn't have made the first half mile.

I saw in her the health that I wanted and soon threw my pack of cigarettes into the hearth of a fireplace. Looking back I never smoked again and never forgot the difference between her health and mine. I wanted to feel better. It has been many years now, and I am very, very glad to have met her that day.
So in ending I have to say that you have to find the best way to quit smoking. Get "quit smoking tools", or join a "quit smoking group", or visit some good "quit smoking sites".

I did it by deciding that I had to control my destiny and quit smoking, so I threw them away as I said.  Food tastes better, and the fresh air feels so good! Oh Yeah, and I am still alive.