Concerning Smoking

Dearly Beloved,

               Some people wonder if smoking is a sin. My thought is that it isn’t most of the time, but it can be. In fact, it’s always an evil to encourage someone else to smoke, because smoking is definitely not good for anyone and those around that person.

               If you remember my words about Love, you will recall that anything thing that is opposed to love is an evil. We are supposed to desire what is best for others. When it comes to smoking, and many other addictions, there are but millions of reasons to avoid it, while only one okay for doing it. Even that one okay reason is flimsy. Does it make you look cool? No, to the rational man, you look stupid because that is what you are when you get addicted purposefully. The one valid reason, which is what addictions thrive on the promise of, is relaxation. The problem is that you might be free of stress at the moment, but it will build up later to become almost unbearable.

               If we consider smoking, we know it is bad for our teeth. Therefore we have to brush quite often and for a long time every time you smoke. What once was okay to do only twice a day, can become required 8 times a day. Why create more work for yourself or others? If you ignore, then you suffer the horrible consequences. You can see the stress is already building up just for this one side effect, and there are hundreds more.

               Of course, there are three reasons why smoking is still around. One is that people are selfish and try to convince others to smoke in order that they can continue smoking. Second is that people think they can get away with smoking. By limiting the areas they can smoke, it has helped the situation, but it’s not enough. The third reason is that most attention is spent on future consequences instead of the present. When people do some addiction, they aren’t looking at the future. They are looking for something in the present. Generally it comes down to “look cool” or “release stress.” When these two are dismantled, then we might be able to get rid of it.

               Let’s get rid of the “looking cool” first. As I said before, people are selfish and try to convince others to smoke in order that they can continue smoking. That means you “looking cool” to these people is really them thinking, “All right, now we don’t have to worry about smoking around this idiot anymore.” You also showed that you aren’t above the influence. You are not a hero at all. Heroes are able to stay above the influence and do what is right, even if everyone is against them. Heroes are cool. Even if people don’t say it publicly, when you stick to good morals, you look you cool. To prove that, I got a message from an old classmate who told me that he admired my ability to do just that. People want to be strong, and sticking to morality is strength.

               How about relieving stress? The thing about addictions is that that relief is only for an instant. If you want it to last as long as before, then you need to be more intense. This can means the first time, you can be relieved for two minutes. The second time, only two minutes. The third, two minutes if you smoke for twice as long. The third, two minutes if you smoke four. Eventually you need to do an entire pack for just one moment of relief, and you have to do it every single day.

               So that’s still technically focusing on the future. Let’s focus on the now and what that means. Money! Can you afford to buy a pack? Can you afford to do that every day? Wouldn’t you rather buy a fun video game with the money you save? How about going on a fun date? Speaking of that, most people hate kissing smokers. So if you smoke, you can’t kiss unless it’s another smoker, but why limit yourself to a minority that is a bomb ready to explode? Remember what I said about stress? It builds up very quickly when you realize all of the consequences just from smoking once. If you cannot smoke, you’ll snap because you cannot think until you do so. Also, it can make you sick. The problem is that you are addicted just from doing it once. You may not think you are addicted, but soon you’ll want it again. It’s the same with every addiction. You cannot think until you feed it. Therefore it is a sin to do it the first time, especially when you know of the evils.

               I used to think it was okay to allow people to smoke as long as I wasn’t around them. But then something changed my mind; you. I became curious about the effects of secondhand smoke on women who are pregnant and the babies they carry. When I read that it could lead to brain development issues on babies still in the womb, my opinion shifted entirely. You don’t always know when a woman is pregnant until she is 6 months in. That means smoking in the present is causing problems for another family and raising a child is hard enough to begin with. In addition, I have asthma and it does not react well to secondhand smoke. When you smoke even in the open air, there is a large radius where others can’t enter. It causes suffering almost every single time, but smokers have grown to be apathetic to this. Know this: Smoking is never an act of love, only selfishness. If you smoke, I would not only be sad because it’s bad for your body, but also your soul.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo