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Life is overwhelmingly full of possibilities. One could die from a gas leak, food poisoning, tetanus, tuberculosis, murder, car crash, shark attack, a bookcase/street sign/piano falling on a civilian. Cigarettes is just that one other activity that shortens the span of an already dangerous life.
Most anything can kill you.Yesterday at 2:50pm
This is a random comment I picked made by a young woman in response to a post that pointed out the cigarettes kill. The reasoning appears that since there are other causes of death, this one is benign and one should not worry about it.
Another guy said “cars kill.”
Emily McColgan may be right, life is dangerous. This may be an anecdotal statement, but I don’t know anybody that died from a gas leak, food poisoning, tetanus, tuberculosis (unless smoking related), murger, shark attack, a bookcase/street sign/piano falling on a person.
I do know people how died from car crashes – not many, but I do.
I know a lot of people, some close relatives, who died from smoking. Perhaps they didn’t die from smoking directly, since some of them stopped at some point, but their lives were cut shorter by decades and they would still be here with us today had they not been smokers in their younger years.
Statistically, cigarettes kill one third of all of its users. Most lifetime smokers have serious illnesses related to smoking by the time they are in their fifties. I am in my fifties, and I have enough little things happening to my body to complain about. I am glad I didn’t smoke.
How do you deal with friends who smoke? I have many, including one who STARTED in his late forties after traveling overseas with students and sharing smokes with them.
I usually joke with them about how much I enjoy the second-hand smoke, as I am talking with them. I grew up with both parents chain smoking at home. It reminds me of my childhood, I say.
But I do let them know that my dad died of lung cancer. With a smile, I tell them. It is not the worst way to die. After all, since it is a form of slow suffocation (dragged out over months), you get a chance to gather everyone you care about and say your goodbyes, hoarsely.