After leaving open house at school with the disappointment of my mother not being allowed the honor to meet my venerable Creative Writing teacher, we were then on our way back home. Me serially texting my girlfriend of one month, but better known as my best friend of three years, all the while. The words in one of those texts in particular feels as if she had just thrust a knife into my backside. She had said that she was hanging out with some friends, and that she had taken a drag off of one of their cigarettes. I was immediately astonished, and furthermore, disgusted. How long had she had the habit was of course my first question. In turn receiving an answer of “I only smoke on occasion. It was my first puff in months.” Something I hadn’t known about her, and certainly wish I hadn’t.

Not entirely believing the BS that she was feeding me, I engaged in giving her a lecture about smoking most thought of to be given by a parent.

Smoking is nothing to be taken lightly. Even that one drag off of a friend’s cigarette is enough to send carcinogenic toxins into the bloodstream. Not to mention cause high blood pressure and plaque build-up in the arteries from repeated use. How could such ignorance, even though this information is known, be so widely accepted? Especially by someone whom I love?

Those few puffs of smoke could also be enough to get you addicted for life. The tobacco in cigarettes and other tobacco products has dangerously high levels of nicotine. A drug more addictive than cocaine, meth, or even heroine.

You may have started this nasty habit, I say to her, to relieve stress, or to possibly “look cool,” or maybe you were just bored one day, but let me tell you this. The “perks” of smoking are greatly outweighed by that of the disadvantages. Things such as teeth stained yellow from the nicotine, bad breath despite the aid of breath mints, loss of smell, loss of taste, clothes and hair that reek of cigarette smoke, wrinkles around your lips from many years of smoking, lung cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, emphysema, a habit that will have you spending loads of money, increased risk in heart disease and heart attacks, and a change in the function of certain areas of the brain. All of which sound like terrible things that just cause more stress in the long run.

Which is precisely why I don’t understand why you are so eager to start the habit to begin with. Have you no plans for life past per say 30 or 40 years of age? Just because someone offers you a smoke or you have just turned of legal buying age for them, doesn’t mean that you have a social obligation to light up. In fact, if you want to do society a favor, then ignore the peer pressure of smoking, and breathe clearly.

Now almost exhausted after having argued my opinion to her for almost 30 minutes or so, I tell her that I care about her, and that knowing that she is slowly committing suicide, hurts me. The response that I get is one that shocks me even more than I was beforehand. “I just don’t see why it’s such a big deal. It was just a drag. And I’m an adult.”

If you’re already a smoker, the next time you decide to strike a match to ignite your “cancer sticks,” try thinking about those who love you. Chances are that you’re not the only person being hurt by your addiction.