QUIT SMOKING!

Image courtesy of helpmestopsmoking.org.uk

This is a very touchy topic for me because it is too close to home. My father is addicted to smoking. He has always been a chain smoker, consuming countless packs of cigarettes a day. Now he limits himself to a few sticks, but he really just can't get himself to go cold turkey. As a child, I remember ripping apart his cigarettes, hiding his lighters and throwing them all away to get him to quit. When I was 9 years old, I got detained by airport officials in the Middle East because they found a lighter in my pocket. It was quite a scary experience for me because it was a foreign land, and the ladies who detained wore black robes, and even their faces were covered with black veils. I recall being separated from my mom and sister, and I was being questioned in a small room.

I was driving when I found out that my mom had a mass in her lung. I got a call from my dad, and I screamed a him and I kept screaming inside the car until I already tasted blood on my throat. I was shaking and crying and screaming the entire trip to the hospital. There was so much anger directed at my father. I love him very much, but I hate the fact that he just can't get himself to quit smoking.

I have never smoked my entire life. My number one rule in dating is that he doesn't smoke. I cringe at the smell of it, and to be honest, it just makes me want to throw up. I went to Hong Kong last December, and I just hated the entire city because everyone was smoking left and right.

To whoever is reading this, if you're a smoker, please quit smoking. Tobacco is the leading cause of cancer in the world. If you can't do it for yourself, please be mindful of others. I'm sorry that I can't relate to your addiction, and I don't know how you feel when you say that it's just so incredibly difficult to quit. But maybe if you think about people who are fighting to live every single day, you would think twice before lighting up.