Twenty a day. I’ve been smoking since I was about thirteen, and I’ve smoked twenty a day for at least the last ten years – probably more. That means that in the last ten years I’ve spent over £16.5k on cigarettes. Insane.
I would love to give up smoking, and I’m reaching that point where I know I’m ready to give up. I can tell because I’m more conscious of the fact I can smell cigarettes on my clothes, and it offends my nostrils. Looking back over the years though, I’ve always defended my decision to smoke.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been approached by random strangers, who feel it’s appropriate to point out that I have “a filthy disgusting habit”. It’s always bothered me – the gall of some people. If you saw an overweight person walking out of Greggs with a sausage roll, you wouldn’t walk up to them and say;
“Oi! Fatty! Put down the sausage roll! One more of those and your arteries might give up for good!”
Yet anti smokers seem to think it’s completely okay to tell smokers that they shouldn’t be smoking. I remember one time a man walking up to me and asking me the most ridiculous question I think I’ve ever been asked. I was stood outside my office enjoying my first cigarette of the day. He walked towards me, stopped (literally inches from the end of my cigarette) and said;
“You know those will kill you, right?”
My response was simple.
“To be fair sir, out of the two of us I would suggest that you were closer to your death bed right now, owing to the fact you’ve broken the golden rule and pissed off a smoker before she’s had her morning nicotine fix.”
I mean really! What kind of a stupid question is that? I mean it’s not like smokers aren’t bombarded daily with statistics and facts about the health implications of their addiction. It’s not like we don’t see the adverts and the stop smoking campaigns. We watch as acupuncturists, hypnotherapists, life coaches and authors make a lot of money out of nicotine addicts through various quitting treatments, which in itself suggests there are reasons to give up. On top of that though, every time we purchase a pack of those evil little sticks, we’re confronted with images and government warnings about how our purchase will undoubtedly affect our health in a negative way.
What kind of a moron would I have to be to have missed all of this, and be unaware that cigarettes are bad for me?!
Anti smokers, are in my opinion, some of the biggest arseholes on the planet. I’m not talking about non smokers, or ex smokers. They two choose not to smoke. Ex smokers have taken the decision to change their habits for the better, and non smokers have chosen never to fall into the trap. These non smokers don’t have any particularly negative feelings towards smoking, other than the fact it’s not something they choose to do themselves. Anti smokers however, harbour over exaggerated feelings of contempt towards smokers, and their choice to smoke despite having no understanding of what it’s like to be trapped by an addiction.
Sometimes I can half understand, if their feelings of contempt are borne out of losing a loved one to a smoking related illness. It’s natural to resent those who continue to puff away with no apparent regard for the effect it could have on them, when someone you’ve cared about would have given anything to undo all the harm they did to themselves and their loved ones, when unfortunately it was simply too late. Having said this, nine times out of ten, anti smokers are usually just self important, up their own arses goody two shoes, who get a kick out of feeling as though they’re superior to the rest of us. They’re usually the people who “know their limits” with regards to alcohol, and can always go one better if you’re telling them about your latest achievement. They have to convince themselves of their superiority by belittling others around them, and unfortunately...that just doesn’t work for me.
We all have our flaws, whether we care to acknowledge them or not, and a blinkered perspective on life just makes you look like a tool. Instead of getting on your soap box, to preach about something that you have absolutely no understanding of, why not start looking a little more closely at yourself? If you really feel the need to tell everyone how amazing and perfect you are, doesn’t that suggest that you know people won’t ever see it unless you point it out to them? In which case...can you really be that perfect and virtuous?
I’m getting ready to give up smoking for good. Not for anyone else other than myself, and because in ten years time, £16.5k in my pocket could buy me some really pretty shoes! My life. My choices. My rules. My shoes.
