To smoke, as an act of rebellion, while being a teenager, does not
seem rebellious to me at all. It is ignorantly giving in to
indoctrination from both the immediate circle of friends and the huge,
aggressive cigarette manufacturers assisted by the media.
I have often reasoned with myself that if our teenagers want to rebel
against society, if they strive to become independent and think for
themselves, so why on earth do they fall like flies into the vicious
nets of nicotine advertising pushers? Indoctrinators who don't give a
damn about anything at all but their greed for money and power?
If our children achieve the understanding and grasp the fact that they
are being utterly manipulated-- played smoothly like the play-dough
they used themselves not too long ago-- in the hands of those
guilt-free companies & fancy executives, would they let themselves
be used without a fight?
These companies, who despite the hypocritical label "hazardous to
your health" on their products, become more sophisticated in
masking their bloody claws into trendy, polished palavers, all in
order to get our children as fast as they possibly can and turn them
into addicts for life, would our children then so easily fall into
these well calculated traps? If they saw the catch in time?
Wouldn't our beloved children rebel against this despicable wickedness
which robs them of their freedom, and in the long run of their heath
as well, wouldn't they then boycott all those damned cigarettes? After
all our children see us, their role models, adults who try numerous
times to quit smoking, yet fail again and again and jeopardize our
health. If only they would see the plot when there is still time.
My beloved Aunt started to smoke as a joke when she was only 16 y/o.
Like everybody else she wanted to appear tougher than she was, she
wanted to be popular. Throughout her life she inhaled large amounts of
the addictive drug until her lungs were totally pierced and black with
tar. She tried to quit smoking time after time, succeeded only for a
week or so, went on smoking and continued to struggled for nearly 60
years. All in vain, she was doomed from her very first
"supposedly innocent" cigarette.
I saw her agony, I saw her terrible suffering. I saw her die in
horrible pain, totally in the merciless arms of the cruel lung cancer
caused by nicotine.
If only our children could see in time the traps that are put out for
them disguised as freedom of choice.
I still remember that cigarette which I deliberately took in order to
aggravate my mom-- I was only 15 or 16 y/o at the time, it was my job
to rebel against her, right?
It all started a few days earlier. Two of my high-school mates called
me to have a cigarette with them in a hidden corner of the school
yard. One of the girls, Yona was her name-- beautiful, thick long
blond braid hanging heavily on her back, smart girl, bright in class--
was my idol, someone I looked up to and wanted to be as good as she,
especially in mathematics, a subject I had always difficulties with.
The other girl, Devorah, was already a smoker, as far as I can recall.
Yona had always enough pocket money to buy cigarettes and so she
offered me one. I took it and sucked on it, not really knowing what to
do, but i didn't want to appear childish so I went on blowing some
smoke. After a few minutes my mouth had a disgusting taste in it and I
felt nauseated, however, I still didn't stop, all I wanted was to be
like Yona, popular and at the top of our class. If she did it it was
an act of boldness and daring which I admired.
I decided to buy a packet of mint flavored cigarettes, called Polaris
at the time, mid 60's, and waited for the moment to confront my
mother. The opportunity didn't take long to show up.
That Friday afternoon, after school was done for the week, Mom and I
were sitting and discussing something which I can't remember now what
it was. I opened my little brown leather purse, took out the unopened
package of cigarettes, tore up the cellophane wrapping, pulled out a
long, white cigarette, elegantly, so I thought, putting it in my
mouth, waiting excitedly for the reaction of my strict disciplinary
mother. I was ready for a wild fight and about to lit my liberating
cigarette, my act of rebellion, when Mommy said very calmly:
"Alors, Poupetta, tu fumes maintenant?"... So I see that you
have taken up smoking, huh..."
"Yes!" I said triumphantly, provocatively, anticipating the
big revolution I had in mind, imagining my mother's fuming outburst
and uncontrollable anger.
Well, come on, give it to me, Mom, my 15-16 years old energy boiled in
me.
Well... I sat there, still holding onto that famous cigarette, but the
spark from that friction I was delivering so eagerly didn't get on
fire. Neither did my cigarette for that matter. It was simply dull.
Mom said no more, so unlike her, I thought, she always lectured me,
always. Why, only the other day she was praising Yona, who came for a
visit, urging me to take after her studious nature, I who had nothing
but the Beatles on my mind!
It was a total flat disappointment, no reaction was boring and so I
didn't see why I should go on pretending I liked smoking when I
actually despised the smell and taste of it. And if I couldn't even
get Mom aggravated so why on earth bother at all.
"Here, Mommy, take it," I said handing her the brand new
package of Polaris mint cigarettes.
This is a copy of
Poupetta's post on flickr which I posted here with permission in hopes of making a difference, if only to one person.
You may like to check an earlier post of mine that relates to the theme of smoking here:
A Poignant Moment
Aljazeera reports on
Outsourcing Addiction: "Research shows smoking has killed more people globally than alcohol,
AIDS, car accidents, drugs and crime combined. Despite the risks,
tobacco profits continue to soar, reaching $35 billion in 2010, or the
combined profits of Coca-Cola, Microsoft and McDonald's."... "It is predicted 80 per cent of global tobacco consumption will be in the developing world by 2030."
