I opened the door and he said to me, "You quit smoking, didn't you Jer?  My doctor told me that if I didn't quit smoking, I would lose a leg!"  This man had a pretty grim look on his face, and I invited him in. This man was about 55 years old. 

I told him how I quit smoking and how long it took me, which was almost a year, to get most of the cravings of smoking out of my system.  He had a look on his face, like he didn't like what I was telling him...that it was going to take a long time.

After about ten minutes, he left my apartment, and he had a more grim look on his face, than when he came in.  He probably wanted to hear some magic story...but there's no magic in quitting smoking, losing weight or anything else! 

I didn't know if he was suffering from diabetes, because I never get into people's business.  But, I saw the man, about two weeks later...and he was on crutches...minus a leg!  Boy, he was serious about what his doctor told him!  About three months later, and the next time I saw him, the ambulance people were rolling him out of the apartments, and he didn't look conscience to me, and that's the last time I saw him!

From: Kids Health.org:
Everyone knows smoking is a bad idea!  And, by now you've probably heard, that breathing someone else's secondhand smoke, is also hazadous to your health.

What is secondhand smoke?  Secondhand smoke comes from both the smoke that smokers exhale (called mainstream smoke),  It may seem pretty harmless, but secondhand smoke actually contains thousands of chemicals...from arsenic; ammonia; to hydrogen cyanide...many of which have been proven to cause cancer (called carcinogens).

High concentrations of many of these are chemicals are found in secondhand smoke.  In fact, second hand smoke significantally increases a person's risk for the following;

- Respiratory infections (like bronchitis and pneumonia)

- asthma; is a risk factor and can trigger attacks for those who already have it.

- coughing; sore throat; sneezine; sniffling, etc.

- cancer and heart disease;

So, secondhand smoke just doesn't impact a person into the future.  It can cause problems right now...like affecting someone's sports performance, or the ability to be physically active, etc.

*                    *                     *

This is the fifth piece, I've written on the dangers of smoking which are as follows;

- Smoking Sucks!  How I Quit Smoking;
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=42888

- Sabrina: Another Smoking Casualty;
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=43138

- Have You Ever Kissed an Ashtray/ (pucker-up);
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=44660

- The Number ONE Litter Problem in the World;
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=39680

In one of those other articles, I refer to people who smoke, as dragons...because they remind me of dragons...with smoke bellowing out of their nose; their mouth; their ears and from places where the sun don't shine, etc.

Anyway, when me and my wife would have a few dragons over to the house for dinner, the place looked like it was on fire...with smoke coming out of all the windows!  Visibility was pretty small, and I always thought someone was going to trip over the coffee table because they couldn't see where they were going!

In the sunlight, you could see a cloud of smoke, just lingering and hovering over everything, and I worried that the neighbors were going to call the fire department...and with all those powerful fire hoses, just come in ant rip the house to pieces! 

All my life, I've heard people say something like, "My grandfather smoked all his adult life, and he lived to be 94 years old!"  That's fine, but did he have a quality of life?  My father lived to be 81 years old, and he was always sick of something!  He did NOT have a quality life!  After 50 years of marriage, my mother was sick and tired of him crying and whining about something always wrong with him!  He went to the grave belly-aching and whining about something that he was ailing from, etc.

Smoking breaks down the body defenses!  Isn't a quality of life what we're all striving for...free of breathing dangerous chemicals? 

When I started writing seriously in August 2006, I promised myself that I wouldn't be "preachy" and that I would not be a crusader for anything!  So, if a person wants to commit suicide...one puff at a time, there's nothing I can do about it, and I really don't care if the person dies...to put it bluntly!  People who smoke, know the risk...and it's your choice!  I'm not a baby-sitter, either!   

I feel pretty comfortable in saying, that there is nobody in the world, that can give me one benefit of smoking!  There are those, who claim that smoking helps them with their weight problem; and there are those who dream up this notion that smoking helps them with their nerves and stress, etc.  These are people, with a "donut-hole" mentality and they're just in denial...they lie to themselves!  They're in the best position to watch their own nose grow! 

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