habit i couldn't afford

It was near the end of January and I found myself in an all too familiar situation. I had once again failed to notice that my inspection sticker was about to expire. Actually, both my car and my wife's car had only a few days left. Somehow, I always seem to maintain ignorance with regards to this. A friend of mine happened to notice our stickers after he had just returned from having his inspected. To make my life easy, I went to the nearest gas station. As the guy inspected the car, I sat inside the small (10' by 10' might be generous) store in a lawn chair. They didn't have a TV (some places do) or anything entertaining to do. So I just let my eyes wander. That's when it caught my eye.

Upon seeing the signs with the prices of cigarettes, I was once again reminded how blessed I was to have never taken on that habit. It truly is a habit I simply couldn't afford. And this is an intentional double entendre. I cannot afford the habit physically or financially. Let's take a look.

1. Physically - We're all pretty familiar with the dangers of smoking these days. The statistics are difficult to read.  I took the following chart from the Center's for Disease Control and Prevention's website (www.cdc.gov):

Too many lives are being lost to this addiction. It's no wonder why many of my friends and family who smoke (or used to smoke) are so anxious to quit. It's not always such an easy task, however. This is one reason I'm thankful that I never started. I thought about smoking in middle school. I thought it would be cool. A friend of mine who smoked talked me out of it. She was not much older than I was at the time. And she told me that regretted having ever started smoking. She didn't want me to make the same mistake she did. I'm not sure if I would have started smoking or not, but I was very grateful for a friend who cared enough to ensure that I didn't. On a positive note, I did have a friend recently quit in time for his son's grand entry into the world. Now, his son won't have to be around second hand smoke.

2. Financially - As I mentioned, I was shocked when I saw the prices of cigarettes. They were like $7.75/pack. I'm doing well if I have a loose $7.75 in my wallet. Polly and I live on a fixed budget. There's just no way I could afford to buy those on a regular basis. I feel bad for people who are addicted. I don't know how they manage financially. On a side note, I know that most of the money is taxes. The government knows how dangerous they are (see graph above off government website) but refuse to do anything about them because they enjoy the money that they make off of them.

On the bright side of things, I feel like I see people smoking less often. I remember a time when stores sold "loosies" for 25 cents and there were vending machines that sold cartons. Those days are gone, and perhaps some of the prevalence with them. Not to mention it's illegal to smoke in most public places. The only negative (which doesn't come close to outweighing the positive) is that now that I'm not around cigarettes nearly as often, it has a worse effect on me when I am.

To those of you who may smoke and are looking to quit, I believe in you. And I know that you'll appreciate the improved health and the increased figure in your bank account...