I quit smoking in 1970, and in 2008, I have not touched a cigarette or any other tobacco product!  There are millions of Americans, who struggle to quit smoking...and finally do quit...only to start up again months or years later!  Why would anybody want to do this?

I'm not a crusader or preacher for anything.  There's nothing I can do, if a person wants to commit suicide...one puff at a time...there's nothing I can do, etc.  But, if a person wants to smoke...go ahead...it's your right.  I don't like smokers around me, and they can do their damage someplace else.  Smokers know the risks of smoking, so I have no sympathy if they die of smoking!  I can't sympathize with someone, who voluntarily, puts poison into their bodies.

I absoluetly cannot understand some people's habits and behavior, such as what I saw at the VA Medical Center recently.  One day, I had a doctor's appointment, and I saw this nurse or therapist smoking out on the patio at the hospital.  This behavior intregued me, so I sat out on the patio and watched her for a few minutes.  You don't see many healthcare professionals smoking.  Boy, as I sat there, this woman smoked like a freight train...lighting up one cigarette with another! 

A few days later, I was back at the hospital on business, and I saw the same woman smoking on the patio, only this time, I found out what she does.  Can you guess where she works?  She's a respiratory therapist!  Can you believe it?  She's probably seen more carnage and deaths from smoking than anyone else!   Yet, she smokes like a freight train herself!  Unbelievable!   She's probably helped more people put plastic tubes up their noses than anyone else at the hosptal.  If this is true ...why does she smoke in the first place? 

"I tried to stop smoking cigarettes, by telling myself, that I just didn't want to smoke, but I didn't believe myself."  Barbara Kelly

I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA), and right in the middle of town, is where I-40 (Route 66) and I-25 (Pan American Freeway) meet and cross, and it is called the "Big I."  As you might imagine, this is a very busy part of town.  I live about a mile on the north side of the Big I, and out there lies, a large electric sign, that was put up by some organization, that shows the deaths from smoking each year. 

The numbers on the sign are large, flash on and off, 24 hours a day, and the numbers change every few minutes.  At the beginning of the year, the sign shows zero...but at the end of the year the sign shows about 220,000 to 250,000 people die from smoking every year, which is astonishing to me!  All these numbers go up on the big board, which is constantly changing!

*                    *                    *

Sabrina and I worked at the same company for about 18 months.  One day, we were sitting out on the patio taking a break, when she said to me, "Jerry, I hate you!"  Catching me by surprise, I asked her why she hated me!  She said, "I'm 38 years old, and my face looks like a dry river bed, filled with wrinkles and crows feet...and you're 50 years old...and you don't have any wrinkles on your face...that's why I hate you!" 

Well...I've been hated in my life for many things, but never for not having wrinkles on my face, so this was all new to me!  I knew Sabrina was kidding, of course, and I told her, that being a heavy smoker had something to do with her outer appearance.  I'm not a doctor, but we all know that smoking affects the inner and the outer body as well, etc.

I told Sabrina, that all that make-up she wears, contributes to the facial lines, and she should get rid of it all, and go to a more natural look.  But, she probably uses make-up to hide the wrinkles,etc.  Women who use a lot of make-up, look like plastic dummies!  All those chemicals block the skin pores and don't allow the skin to breath, etc.

"I'm really not a heavy smoker anymore...and I only go thorugh two lighters a day now."  Bill Hicks

Sabrina quit smoking before I met her, but after smoking heavily for over 15 years, her body has taken its toll.  Little did Sabrina know that her days were numbered!  About a year later, the company closed, and we all went our seperate ways.  Sabrina and I were only acquaintences, so we didn't hang around together.  But, when we parted, I missed her, because she had always been good to me, etc.

*                   *                    *

My parents divorced after 48 years of marriage.  She was 66 years old and my father was 70 years old.  My father helped to produce ten kids, and he didn't care about any of us!  And, all of us kids hated him, because he was sinnester and evil.

One day, my mother called me, and told me that my father had died!  So?  Who cares...I have never had a father!  My mother also told me that his name was in the obituary column in the newspaper.  So?  Who cares!

And, during the rest of the day, something was bothering me...bugging me...as to go to the obituary page of the newspaper.  But, why?  What would I find?  I didn't care about my father!  Finally, I went to the obituary page, and started to scan down the list of names...oh my God...oh my God!  I recognized a name that I was familiar with...the name "Pettis" which is Sabrina's last name...oh my God!  Could this be Sabrina?  I chill and emptiness came over me, and I didn't want to look any further! 

I imediately closed the newspaper and put it down!  But, after a few seconds of turmoil in my head, I had to find out if it was Sabrina or not.  i could not go away and not find out, etc. 

So, I went back to the obituary page...and scanned down the page...and to my horror...it WAS Sabrina!  I felt empty inside right away, and I was reading with glassy eyes!  I slumped into the chair and I couldn't believe it!  Sure enough...the information was correct...Sabrina lived in Los Lunas; she worked for the Sheriff's Dept., and she had just re-married, etc.  I was numb...Sabrina couldn't be dead...oh my God...what has happened?

"Sooner or later...everyone stops smoking."  Unknown

I didn't know if she died from an accident or illness, so I called a mutual friend.  The friend told me, that Sabrina got an ordinary cold, which quickly turned to the flu...and then turned to pneumonia.  Sabrina was rushed to the hospital, and she died withing three days!  All of this happened so quickly!

The death certificate probably read, "pneumonia" as cause of death...but in fact...the smoking contributed to her death because the smoking weakened her lungs; her arteries and her overall body, that she couldn't fight back!  There's not the best doctor's; the best technologies; the best medications that can save a person...if the person does not fight back!  And sadly,  Sabrina was not able to fight back!

*                 *                   *

When a person wants to quit smoking...they have TWO gigantic tasks in front of them.  First, they have to have the "mental toughness" it takes to quit smoking FOR GOOD and not start up again!  Next, they have to give time for the body to cleanse itself, of all the sludge, the pollution and tar you put into your own body!  I'm not a doctor as I said, but in Sabrina's case, it might take years to clean out her system of sludge and pollution, etc.

So, when a person quits smoking...it's not the end of danger...and it could be only the beginning such as in Sabrina's case, etc.  All of use get a cold or flu from time to time, and the same thing could happen to any of us, that happened to Sabrina!  Sabrina had already quit smoking for over 6 months, but the pollutions lingers for a long time after quitting, etc.

*                     *                    *

During this time, I had moved to the south side of town, and without thinking one day, I drove onto the freeway, and headed for the Big I.  I completely forgot about the sign I spoke of earlier.  As I drove through the Big I, I noticed the big sign was still there, which reminded me of Sabrina right away.  As I passed the sign, it brought an empty feeling in my stomach, etc.  Sabrina put a number on that dreadful sign, and I would never drive that way again!

Sabrina died in 1996, and more than ten years later, I still think about her once in a while, and she'll always have a place in my heart! 

"We design our lives through the power of choices." Richard Beck

The Red, White and Blue affords us all a choice, to remain healthy and to stay away from cigarettes!  But sadly...Sabrina chose to commit suicide...one puff at a time...and it took her 15 years to do it!  To smoke or not to smoke...the choice is yours! 

GOD BLESS SABRINA...MAY SHE REST IN PEACE!

SITE MAP For Hopelessly Lost Souls;

Copyright; 2007; Jerry Aragon/The Humor Doctor
Website name; humordoctormd
http://humordoctormd.homestead.com