Wanted to share a story. A story of another addiction placed on us by our government. And the lie that our choices are our own. They want control of you.

I am sixty-one years old. I have got cancer of the throat through smoking. Now I can only physically cope with five roll-ups a day. I used to sleep soundly through the night. Now I wake up every hour of the night and all I can think about is cigarettes. Even when I am sleeping, I dream about smoking.

‘I cannot smoke my first cigarette until 10 o’clock. I get up at 5 o’clock and make endless cups of tea. My wife gets up about 8 o’clock and, because I am so bad-tempered, she will not have me in the house. I go down to the greenhouse and try to potter about, but my mind is obsessed with smoking.

At 9 o’clock I begin to roll my first cigarette and I do so until it is perfect. It is not that I need it to be perfect, but it gives me something to do. I then wait for 10 o’clock. When it arrives my hands are shaking uncontrollably. I do not light the cigarette then. If I do, I have to wait three hours for the next one. Eventually I light the cigarette, take one puff and extinguish it immediately. By continuing this process I can make the cigarette last one hour. I smoke it down to about a quarter of an inch and then wait for the next one.’

In addition to his other troubles, this poor man had burns all over his lips caused by smoking the cigarette too low. You probably have visions of a pathetic imbecile. Not so. This man was over six feet tall and an ex-sergeant in the Marines. He was a former athlete and didn’t want to become a smoker. However, in World War II society believed that cigarettes gave courage, and servicemen were issued free rations of them. This man was virtually ordered to become a smoker. He spent the rest of his life paying through the nose, subsidizing other people’s taxes, and it ruined him physically and mentally. If he were an animal, our society would have put him out of his misery, yet we still allow mentally and physically healthy teenagers to become hooked.

Wanted to share a story. A story of another addiction placed on us by our government. And the lie that our choices are our own. They want control of you. I am sixty-one years old. I have got cancer of the throat through smoking. Now I can only physically cope with five roll-ups a day. I used to sleep soundly through the night. Now I wake up every hour of the night and all I can think about is cigarettes. Even when I am sleeping, I dream about smoking. ‘I cannot smoke my first cigarette until 10 o’clock. I get up at 5 o’clock and make endless cups of tea. My wife gets up about 8 o’clock and, because I am so bad-tempered, she will not have me in the house. I go down to the greenhouse and try to potter about, but my mind is obsessed with smoking. At 9 o’clock I begin to roll my first cigarette and I do so until it is perfect. It is not that I need it to be perfect, but it gives me something to do. I then wait for 10 o’clock. When it arrives my hands are shaking uncontrollably. I do not light the cigarette then. If I do, I have to wait three hours for the next one. Eventually I light the cigarette, take one puff and extinguish it immediately. By continuing this process I can make the cigarette last one hour. I smoke it down to about a quarter of an inch and then wait for the next one.’ In addition to his other troubles, this poor man had burns all over his lips caused by smoking the cigarette too low. You probably have visions of a pathetic imbecile. Not so. This man was over six feet tall and an ex-sergeant in the Marines. He was a former athlete and didn’t want to become a smoker. However, in World War II society believed that cigarettes gave courage, and servicemen were issued free rations of them. This man was virtually ordered to become a smoker. He spent the rest of his life paying through the nose, subsidizing other people’s taxes, and it ruined him physically and mentally. If he were an animal, our society would have put him out of his misery, yet we still allow mentally and physically healthy teenagers to become hooked.
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