This morning, I heard on the news that CVS pharmacy announced they were staying true to their health store focus and have decided to stop selling cigarettes at their pharmacy. They will no longer sell cigarettes at any of their stores. They will be giving up two billion dollars in revenue as a result!
Hey smokers! If a business can knowingly give up $2 billion in revenue can't you give up slowly killing yourself? Not to mention selfishly polluting the air that the rest of us breathe?
I have never been a smoker and I will never be a smoker. It has never been appealing to me. I don't see the allure at all. I realize it is an addiction. I get it. But come on.... why start in the first place? It's not like it's the 50s and it's "cool" to smoke and we don't know what harm it does to our bodies. You know what it will do to you the minute you buy that pack or smoke that first one.
When I was a child, I was asked one year what I wanted for my birthday. What does this 8 year old girl want? She wants her father to quit smoking. She doesn't want a big wheel, a Barbie or a puppy. She wants her dad to stop smoking. She wants him to still be around for her high school graduation, for her wedding, for all the important times in her life and for all the important times in HIS life that are yet come. Was it easy for my dad to quit? Of course not. Did he have times when he faltered? Of course he did. But did he quit? YES, he did. At 65 he is still alive, not smoking and not a day goes by that I am not grateful.
I know it's an addiction but addictions can be stopped. You have to WANT to quit. Smoking is used as a crutch. As a stress reliever. I get it. I've heard it all. But if you value your life and if you value your family and your friends then you will STOP or not start in the first place. There are plenty of aids to help you and if a doctor tells you have to stop smoking or you'll die, isn't that enough to stop? Oh wait, smokers are invincible, I forgot. Silly me. OH wait, but if you stop smoking then you'll gain weight. Really? You'll also add many years to your life and you can exercise and eat right to stop the weight gain. Get over yourself and stop the excuses. I've heard 'em all.
People die every day. People are murdered every day. People are in car accidents every day. People are diagnosed with life threatening diseases every day. Life can change in an instant. So why would you take on a habit that you KNOW will kill you. It's no surprise that smoking is not good for you. There are absolutely no redeeming qualities. Not only does it slowly kill you but it looks nasty, it smells nasty, and it affects all aspects of your body - your heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, weight, skin, teeth. Your clothes stink. Your hair stinks. Your breath stinks. Your home stinks. Everything turns an ugly yellow including your teeth.
In the 50s it was cool. I saw Grease. I loved Grease - my all-time favorite movie, the only movie I can recite line by line and I can sing every single song word for word. I loved the T-Birds and am still in love with John Travolta as Danny Zucco. I wanted to BE Olivia Newton-John as the transformed Sandy.
I had friends - who were original friends of my grandparents - who were in their late 70s. I understand that you get to a certain point in your life, that cigarette smoking IS a huge part of who you are and you aren't going to quit no matter how much your family begs or your doctor pleads. Unfortunately, with most of these friends, the damage has already been done and their fate is inevitable. The worst part is seeing them suffer, seeing them scream in pain with every breath they take and yet I can't feel sorry for them. I am sad for me and their family because they are dying and I/we won't be able to be with them any longer. But I have no sympathy for them because they did this to themselves.
Years ago after losing two very important people in my life to cancer and watching them struggle to breathe as their bodies shut down due to the suffocation that was brought about by smoking cigarettes, I couldn't take it any longer. I have begged and pleaded with family members and friends to stop now while they still could make a difference in their lives and save themselves. When they ignore me or blow me off, I give up. I can't fight the fight for them. If they don't want to help themselves, then I am not wasting my time and energy for it just to be thrown in my face time and time again.
Cigarette smokers think that just because they don't have cancer that it's no big deal. Wrong. I have a hard time believing these people are that ignorant. Smoking kills you. Period. When you have heart disease, lung disease (COPD, asthma, emphysema - take your pick), diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure, you name it, smoking does NOT help. In fact it compounds the problems that you already have and has likely caused some, if not all of them. Why on earth would you do this to yourselves? How about just putting a gun to your head and just get it over with? You're just prolonging the inevitable and don't value your life anyway.
I am extremely passionate about this subject. Extremely. When I heard about CVS today, I was so pleased. What a huge step - to knowingly give up billions of dollars in revenue! Smokers will just not go to CVS anymore but I will frequent it more often. I was born and raised in the tobacco state of Virginia and hate that we're such proponents of tobacco. There are plenty of people succumb to horrible diseases and health issues, including cancer, strokes and heart disease who have never smoked a cigarette in their life - my mother is one of them. She never did anything wrong and has never put a bad substance in her body. She doesn't deserve what she's been through. But everyone who smokes, is smacking fate in the face and saying screw it, I'm going to do what I want and I don't care about the consequences. Makes. Me. Sick.
Plenty of people who have smoked for many many years have quit. They have realized how important it is to stop and that they want to feel better and they want to survive. It CAN be done. Addiction or not. You have to want it and only you can want it.
This is my blog on the simple pleasures of food and wine. More than just food and wine, I like to live my life around simple pleasures because those simplest things are what bring me the most happiness and inner peace in life. Breathing. That is the simplest pleasure of all. I'll never understand why anyone would want to give that up.
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