There are lots of things about this world that I do not understand. Usually I'll shortly reflect on these unknowns and then let them pass until another thoughtful day.
This thought, however, frequently visits me: Why do people smoke, drink, and glorify tanning? I just cannot understand...
Here are the facts:
Every year, 400,000 Americans die due to smoking cigarettes and 160,372 of these deaths are from smoking-induced cancer. In addition, 3000 innocent people die of lung cancer from second-hand smoke a year.
1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.
It is estimated that in 2007, nearly 1 million new cases of skin cancer will be reported and around 2,000 deaths will be due to skin cancer.
Why do I continue to dwell on this topic and present these facts to you? I will explain via example:
You have just received a brand new car. The outside is dazzling and the engine runs perfectly. It is one fine piece of machinery and you expect it stay that way for years. You're not gonna let anybody put a scratch on that car.
But then, let's say, one day you take your beautiful car and start hurtling rocks through the window. Run it into the wall a couple times. Hell, open the hood and take a sledge hammer to the engine and all the intricate parts inside.
Your new car looks like shit. It runs like shit. It is basically a pile of shit. What on earth possessed you to destroy that car?
Let me rephrase...
That new car you got, that's your body. Those rocks, walls, and damage via sledge hammer, that's you smoking, drinking, and tanning your life away.
It's obvious to think, "I'll take care of my car because it's expensive and needs to keep running." So why is it not obvious to think, "I'll take care of my body because the life I have with it is so priceless?"
That is what I do not understand.
I have never smoked, never drank, and enjoy my pale, pasty-white skin and for some reason, I will die of cancer in a couple of months. What's the deal!? Here, why don't you give me your body and you can take my piece-of-shit body and finish destroying it with tar-coated lungs, an alcohol-diseased liver, and melanoma crawling over your skin!? Then I can take your body, provide it with a healthy lifestyle, and have plenty more happy years on this earth. It sounds like a good trade to me.
I know friends who smoke and drink. They think it's just an expected part of life: "Hey! I got wasted last night! Awesome, huh? Let's put the pictures of me trashed on Facebook!"
It saddens me. They're ruining themselves on purpose and I'm fighting like hell to keep my body running. You don't have to drink, or at least not like that. Smoking is stupid. Always. What part of inhaling smoke sounds intelligent to you? As for tanning, yeah, you go lay in your glowing box until you notice a dark, asymmetrical mark on your integumentary system.
I know my questioning will offend/hurt feelings. If you smoke, drink, tan: I don't hate you, I just question what you do. I wonder how you can continue smoking, drinking, or tanning when so much information is available to you. I'm sure I'll probably get a response from someone. They'll find some way to justify smoking, getting wasted at college parties, and tanning. But I'll still continue to question. I guess I'll just never understand how some people can put so much effort into destroying their bodies when I am putting in so much effort to save mine.
Referenced Sites
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/cig_smoking_mort.htm http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/StatsSummaries/snapshot.aspx
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/skin
