Quitting smoking thought

I'm not a big one for New Years resolutions, but many are and I expect some of you will be planning to quit smoking, so I thought it would be a good time to post this thought.

When quitting you need to be sure in your mind that you're doing the right thing and the reasons why you're stopping.

Unfortunatly, the obvious ones like health, finances etc can be insufficient; during my ten years of smoking I was aware of the health risks and thought I cared, but, in some sense, I didn't.

I guess it's easy to not worry about it cos it's in the future.

Ultimately, the real prime reason for quitting for me, was that I was aware that I was enslaved; I didn't want to smoke and yet I couldn't help it. Health etc were factors, but the real one was that I didn't want to be a slave or contribute to corporations that market a product which enslaves others.

And that's what I'm putting forward as we approach the New Year; many of us here have concerns about the environment, about the way our society is run, we also know that an alternative to direct action against corporations we believe to be doing harm is to remove our support by refusing to buy their product.

I'm not aware of this point being one of the big factors in stopping smoking, but in the same way as people stopped buying Nestle products because of what Nestle were doing with baby milk in third world countries; then by ceasing to buy tobacco products you are removing support from an organisation which sells, and ruthlessly markets, a highly addictive product which, according to World Helath Organisation figures, causes 4,000,000 deaths worldwide per year.

Also, while I'm not personally aware of how they treat their growers and distributers in poor countries, but I'm willing to bet they're not that good.

As an example of the attitude of these corporations, check this webpage: -

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/07/18/wsmok18.xml

it concerns a letter sent to the Czech government from a big tobacco company explaining the benefits to the Czech economy of promoting smoking to its population.

That benefit lies in the fact that smokers will die earlier than they would if they didn't smoke, and they calculate that the savings in pensions etc will more than offset the added costs of hospital treatment.

So, if you're the kind of person who cares, and who believes that their actions do have a meaningful effect on the world at large, then, when you've quit and feel that tug to buy some cigarettes, maybe the thought that by refraining you're removing support from a corporation that is run on the above principles, will help you to say 'no', and pay no more attention to that thought.

To anyone who's quitting, best of luck. If you don't make it, then, as always, I advise that you purchase Allen Carrs book 'The Easy Way to Give up Smoking' (a search on this forum will turn up several threads on this book) which offers an excellent alternative to the usual methods.

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32

Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!

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