Smokers, this article is for you.  Today is the Great American Smokeout.  Since 1977, smokers have been encouraged to put their cigarettes away for just one day, just to prove to themselves that they can do it.  I encourage all you smokers out there to join in today, too.  Allow me to tell you a story.

My mother and grandmother both smoked when I was a child.  In fact, my grandmother on that side of the family died from emphysema.  When I was in kindergarten, I went upstairs to where my grandmother stayed (and where my mother went to smoke), and told my mom that I didn’t want her to die of cancer, so she should quit smoking.  Right then and there, thanks to her kindergarten-age son, she quit smoking and hasn’t picked up the nicotine since.

I know it’s hard to quit smoking.  I’ve had friends who have tried dozens of times to kick the habit.  Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on earth, but if you can make it one day, why not try for two?  Why not shoot for a week?  Or a month?  Someone I work with quit smoking cold turkey at age 59, and if you can change a habit you’ve had for over 40 years, you can do ANYTHING.

If you’re not going to quit for your own health, do it for me.  I need my readership to not die.  If you won’t do it for me (that thought makes me want to cry), do it for your loved ones.  They don’t want you to die, either.  If you won’t do it for them, do it because cigarettes cost a ton of money, and you’ll need the spare cash when gas shoots back up to $4.50 a gallon this summer.  The car of tomorrow won’t need gas, but we’re not anywhere near tomorrow yet.

Tags: smoking, cigarettes, tobacco, quitting smoking, stop smoking, The Great American Smokeout, avoiding cancer, the great american smokeout 2008

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