Why We Smoke…

Why We Smoke

Nobody becomes a smoker as a result of will power. In fact it is the other
way round. Can you imagine somebody as a child making up his or her mind
that when he or she grows up he or she will become a chain smoker
determined to smoke at least 30 cigarettes a day?
Nobody in his or her normal senses would do that.
Then why do so many people become smokers? Let us sit and think about it
for a minute. Of course there are a lot of other reasons like the ones I have
listed below but I would like to pin point to one specific reason, which I
have added, at the end of the list.
Many, in fact most people become smokers as a result of an experiment.
What often starts as an experiment becomes an experience and before they
know it, it becomes a pattern. So let us examine some of the factors that
contribute towards making a person a smoker, chain or other wise.
Peer pressure. One bad apple is enough to make a whole barrel of apples
bad. And during the age of thoughtless youth (most people develop the habit
before the age of 25) every one is ready to take up a dare. So when peers
compel others to take a puff, one just has to take a puff or else face the
danger of being branded as “chicken” or “goody-two-shoes.”
Availability. Cigarettes are available every where and almost any body can
get them and that is one major factor that contributes to the development of
the habit. Another reason is that cigarettes are so damn cheap!
Aping. Movie stars and other celebrities who smoke look so cool, and this
is more than enough reason for youngsters to start smoking just to copy their
matinee idol.
The Feel Good Syndrome. Cigarettes are often identified with the “cool
factor” and so it is a great way to impress others if you can delicately
balance the cigarette between two of your fingers and blow up a puff of
smoke while you are in your friends' circle.

Stress busters. Cigarettes are often wrongly identified as stress busters and
one of the best ways of driving away sleep. So when we see others resorting
to the habit, we are tempted and even coaxed into taking a puff. If one parent
smokes there is a 25% chance that the child too will grow up into a smoker.
If both parents smoke, there is a 75% chance that the child will become a
smoker.
Attitude. This is a good one, but strangely enough this cause is seldom
identified as one of the reasons for picking up the habit. One thing about
most of us is that there is a rebellious strain in all of us. There is something
in us that generates an urge to protest against existing rules and norms and
during our teenage, what better way to express our defiance than by sporting
a lighted cigarette between our fingers or lips.
It is not just some thing about smoking. It is a general tendency of every
human being. The moment some body tells us not to do something a strong
feeling develops in us to do the very thing that we were asked not to do. If
you want to understand what I mean, just consider how people really want to
touch and get the wet paint on their hands in spite of a big sign that says ‘wet
paint’.
There are many laws which we can’t break for fear of ending up in a cell,
but there is no such law against smoking and so it’s just one big, “it’s my
life” kind of attitude that makes most youth pick up the habit.
We are all intelligent to know what a message means. When we read the
statutory warning that says, “Cigarette smoking is injurious to health” we
know what it means. Even a kid knows what it means. It is not like a bolt
from the blue. Ignorance is the last thing that we can connect to the habit of

cigarette smoking. But then when we see a sign that says ‘wet paint’ it is
very much the same thing. The message is loud and clear that the paint is
wet but yet we have to touch and make sure.
Cigarette smoking may be dangerous to health but just how dangerous is
something that we have to convince ourselves about. But the sorry fact is
that unlike wet paint, we just can’t wash of the effects of smoking with water
or turpentine. Nor do the effects fade over time, they just worsen. Smoking
is not something that we can experiment with. You just can’t take a risk like
smoke for a couple of years and say, “look guys, I survived.” It is a matter
of life and death.

Then you might ask, if every body knows that it is such a dangerous habit,
then why do so many people still become, and continue to remain smokers.
Well, the reason is because of a paradox that is involved in the habit of
smoking.
If all those who smoked, kicked the bucket at the end of the month, then
nobody would even think of smoking. But the paradox is that not everyone
who smokes hits the grave that fast. Smoking as a habit is a slow killer. It
does not paint all smokers with the same brush of death. On the other hand it
is like a florist who picks a few flowers here and a few flowers there to
adorn the house but at the same time leaves some flowers on the plant so that
the garden does not remain bare.
The problem is that because cigarette smoke as a killer is so choosy, most
smokers just keep on hoping that he or she will remain on the plant in the
garden forever. In this modern age when we are all so educated and well
informed, isn’t it kind of silly to leave ourselves in the hands of fate and just
keep hoping that we won’t be next. The funny thing is that we do have a
choice.
But there’s more to the story. The matter of choice is something that exists
only in the initial stages. At that time it’s just a puff here and just a puff
there, more to impress others than any thing else. But soon enough things
start slipping out of our control and before we know it we just can’t do with
out our daily dose of nicotine in whatever proportions we demand it.