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From: falk@uiucuxc.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Re: Why Smoke? - (nf)
Message-ID: <2700005@uiucuxc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 14-Jun-84 13:33:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucuxc.2700005
Posted: Thu Jun 14 13:33:00 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 16-Jun-84 02:58:51 EDT
References: <250@tellab1.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:tellab1:-25000:uiucuxc:2700005:000:2098
Nf-From: uiucuxc!falk    Jun 14 12:33:00 1984

#R:tellab1:-25000:uiucuxc:2700005:000:2098
uiucuxc!falk    Jun 14 12:33:00 1984

{*}
Smoking is definitely an interesting phenomenon, and "by rights" I should be
a smoker, but luckily I am not.
 
Both of my parents smoked, my father heavily. In fact, my father died this
last February of cancer (however, I make no judgement as to the cause). When
I was about 11 or 12 a group of my friends and I (whose parents also smoked)
collected butts or swiped a few whole cigarettes from our parents and tried
smoking in a nearby cemetary behind some large headstones (interesting that
we chose that spot!). We got to the point of occasionally gathering up enough
money to buy a pack on our own from the local mom-and-pop grocery who would
sell it to us because we often came in to buy it for our parents. Somehow, 
though, I did not "get hooked" (maybe I don't have an "addictive personality")
and eventually got in the business of trying to stop my parents from smoking
(flushing their cigarettes down the toilet, making nasty comments, coughing
loudly whenever they lit up, etc.-- my father was not a violent man, but I
do believe I risked my life on a few occasions).

Needless to say, that did not work. I did not try smoking again until college
where alot of my friends did it to help stay awake for "all nighters" or to
relax, etc. I really tried to start smoking for those "benefits", but it
never did anything for me, so I stopped again. As an interesting, but sad (to
me) side-note, after my father found out he had cancer, he stopped cold-
turkey. He never said anything about it, he just never picked up another
cigarette in the last 6 months of his life and did not have the normal with-
drawal problems (although, he was obviously going through other problems).
Nobody told him to stop (including his doctors, he probably wouldn't have
listened to them).

Now, I am firmly convinced of the hazards, undesirability as well as expense
of smoking, but I am not a crusader against it-- people have to make up their
own mind about what is good for them. 

                                                -Connie
                                            {uiucdcs!uiucuxc!falk}