Is smoking the only thing that kills?
Pictorial warnings are disturbing. Each time I see one of them, I need to barf. I see those cartons, even though I don't smoke. Even though I don't carry cigarette cartons with me.
Will the pictures stop me from ever smoking a cigarette? No. Will they make me want others to stop smoking? No.
As kids, our parents made us do certain things by telling us some horror story. Athamma used to get rid of my brother and I when she was making milk toffees by telling us that the gonibilla will eat the milk toffees if we disturb her. We stayed away because we thought the gonibilla would actually eat the nice, gooey toffee. Are these anti-tobacco companies aiming at scaring the living hell out of us so that we would stop smoking? Is that why they want non-smokers to also be forced to see such gruesome pictures?
In most stores, the cigarette shelf is kept just above the cashier. These stores sell more than cigarettes and we have to pay for goods at that cashier where, just above the cashiers' heads are rows and rows of gruesome pictures. I don't fancy paying for lunch while a picture of a man with bloodied lips and a wound on his cheek stares at me. And I'm sure there are many others who don't like these images either.
Let's say the images do stop me from buying the cartons (who would want to carry such disgusting cartons?). Will they stop me from smoking? I can always find cigarettes without having to buy a carton.
In the end, it's a choice. It's a decision each individual makes.
If I choose to take up smoking, I choose to light that cigarette. I choose to let it kill me. Just like I choose to let other things kill me. I know junk food will affect my health. I know missing meals will affect my health. I know letting those mosquitoes feast on my blood could give me some disease or the other. But I choose to eat junk food, I choose to miss meals, I choose to not chase those mosquitoes away. So will pictorial warnings stop me from making certain decisions? I doubt it!
So why shouldn't you smoke? Because it affects other people? Well, what if a man smokes in a room where there is no one else? What if he has no family depending on him, has money to pay for medical care when needed or better, would prefer to die in his home than seek help when he falls sick?
If smoking kills, do non-smokers live forever? If I don't smoke, if I stay away from smokers, if I don't drink alcohol, if I eat all the healthy food, will I live forever?
We are all going to die. To live is to die. Living and dying aren't two separate acts. I'm not saying you need to smoke because you will die anyway. I'm not saying you need to stop smoking because it will cut short your life. I can't tell you what to do. And I shouldn't. It's up to you to decide. In the end, will you stop smoking just because there are some gruesome pictures on a cigarette carton? Or will you stop smoking due to a fear of all those health issues you have always been warned about?
If you have an issue with that 'cigarette smell,' you need to distance yourself from smokers. I can't sit with a group of smokers, and complain about that foul smell. If you worry about secondhand smoke, don't hang out with smokers. You can advice people. You can tell them all the horror stories. You can show them those gruesome pictures. However, in the end, you cannot stop someone from smoking. They have to make that decision.
We can't and shouldn't force our beliefs on people. Anti-tobacco organizations can stop people from smoking in public places. They can have pictorial warnings on cartons. But they cannot force people to stop smoking.
Will the pictures stop me from ever smoking a cigarette? No. Will they make me want others to stop smoking? No.
As kids, our parents made us do certain things by telling us some horror story. Athamma used to get rid of my brother and I when she was making milk toffees by telling us that the gonibilla will eat the milk toffees if we disturb her. We stayed away because we thought the gonibilla would actually eat the nice, gooey toffee. Are these anti-tobacco companies aiming at scaring the living hell out of us so that we would stop smoking? Is that why they want non-smokers to also be forced to see such gruesome pictures?
In most stores, the cigarette shelf is kept just above the cashier. These stores sell more than cigarettes and we have to pay for goods at that cashier where, just above the cashiers' heads are rows and rows of gruesome pictures. I don't fancy paying for lunch while a picture of a man with bloodied lips and a wound on his cheek stares at me. And I'm sure there are many others who don't like these images either.
Let's say the images do stop me from buying the cartons (who would want to carry such disgusting cartons?). Will they stop me from smoking? I can always find cigarettes without having to buy a carton.
In the end, it's a choice. It's a decision each individual makes.
“It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
If I choose to take up smoking, I choose to light that cigarette. I choose to let it kill me. Just like I choose to let other things kill me. I know junk food will affect my health. I know missing meals will affect my health. I know letting those mosquitoes feast on my blood could give me some disease or the other. But I choose to eat junk food, I choose to miss meals, I choose to not chase those mosquitoes away. So will pictorial warnings stop me from making certain decisions? I doubt it!
So why shouldn't you smoke? Because it affects other people? Well, what if a man smokes in a room where there is no one else? What if he has no family depending on him, has money to pay for medical care when needed or better, would prefer to die in his home than seek help when he falls sick?
If smoking kills, do non-smokers live forever? If I don't smoke, if I stay away from smokers, if I don't drink alcohol, if I eat all the healthy food, will I live forever?
We are all going to die. To live is to die. Living and dying aren't two separate acts. I'm not saying you need to smoke because you will die anyway. I'm not saying you need to stop smoking because it will cut short your life. I can't tell you what to do. And I shouldn't. It's up to you to decide. In the end, will you stop smoking just because there are some gruesome pictures on a cigarette carton? Or will you stop smoking due to a fear of all those health issues you have always been warned about?
If you have an issue with that 'cigarette smell,' you need to distance yourself from smokers. I can't sit with a group of smokers, and complain about that foul smell. If you worry about secondhand smoke, don't hang out with smokers. You can advice people. You can tell them all the horror stories. You can show them those gruesome pictures. However, in the end, you cannot stop someone from smoking. They have to make that decision.
We can't and shouldn't force our beliefs on people. Anti-tobacco organizations can stop people from smoking in public places. They can have pictorial warnings on cartons. But they cannot force people to stop smoking.
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