Oh man. This topic really gets my gizzard every time. I just don't understand how, in this day and age, with alllllll the scientific research that has shown how absolutely terrible it is for you to smoke, and with allllllll the campaigns to make sure the public is educated on just how terrible smoking is for you, basically bombarding us with the information from the time we're in kindergarten - how are there still people smoking?? And even crazier is that it's still happening at all levels of society, including extremely intelligent and educated groups of people - even some doctors and respiratory therapists that I know! Wha??
The first time I remember ever truly getting angry about smoking was when I was a young teenager and I realized my cousin had picked up the habit. I was so angry that he was doing that to himself, and also angry at how unfair it was - I have to work SO HARD to keep my lungs from literally killing me every day, and I've never purposefully done a single thing to them in my entire life that was harmful, yet I struggle, and even back then I knew it would be a struggle for my entire life. I thought it was extremely awful and selfish and unfair of him to choose to ruin his beautiful, perfect set of lungs for absolutely nothing. His decision to smoke also felt like a personal stab, like he didn't care enough about me to let my lung disease impact him enough to be adverse to smoking. Please please please keep this in mind if you're a smoker and someone close to you has lung health problems! By smoking, you are not only physically harming this other person with your second hand smoke, you very likely are also causing emotional pain.
The sentiments still hold true today for pretty much any person I see smoking, anywhere. Just don't do it, guys. I know addictions are incredibly difficult to kick, but you can do it! It's worth it!
And it's not just worth it for you - do it for the rest of the world and those who are closest to you! Second-hand smoke is a terrible, real thing, especially for someone with a genetic lung disease. And every time we are forced to breathe in your smoke as we sit at a stoplight, or walk through your smoke at the entrance to a building as you puff away in front of the "no smoking" signs, or get stuck in a cloud of your stagnant smoke while trying to enjoy a meal at a restaurant, you're not just harming yourself, you're harming us, too.
I've had a handful of friends/family and a large number of co-workers over the years who smoke, and I 100% realize that smoking does not making someone a bad person. All kinds of things in life can lead a person to pick up a smoking habit, and I sympathize with the difficulty of trying to quit. However, like any person close to someone with a harmful addiction, it's impossible not feel like they are being incredibly selfish and stupid by keeping up a habit that is harmful to both them and those around them.
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