Is it Worth it?
Posted Saturday, 16 July, 2011 at 09:08 AM.
As I walked past the 24 hour convenient store, I chance upon the rows of cigarette packs, and along with each pack, a gory picture stares at you.
The ministry of health has implemented that such gory pictures showing the tonsils/ lungs of a cancer patient due to the inhale of one deadly puff, would discourage smokers to continue their path. However, for Shi Rong, a student from Nanyang Polytechnic does not feel threatened by it. He has started smoking at an early age of 13 years old, and plans to continue the cycle. There were several unsuccessful attempt as he tried to resist smoking, but at the end of the day, he fell right back to the trap of “smoking”. “I have tried to quit smoking several times, by sucking on sweets when the urge came, and I kept telling myself that smoking is harmful. However, I was not determined enough.”
Statistics have shown that 1 in every 5 teenagers age between thirteen to fifteen years old smoke, and it is scientifically proven that 50% of them will continue to smoke for about fifteen to twenty years down the road. Based on a preliminary survey done by the Students’ Health Survey (SHS), 58% of the lower secondary students, and 53% of the upper secondary students who have already taken their first puff, said that they have no intention to quit smoking.
Teenagers might think that it is cool to smoke, and it provides them “the platform” to shine, and rise above others, but little did they know that, there are more than a thousand chemicals in every cigarette. They contain harmful chemicals like Nicotine, Acetone, Tar, Benzene and Carbon monoxide. You might ask, how are they harmful to our bodies? Well, here are the answers. Nicotine gives you the rush, and makes you happy, but they are very addictive, the same goes for Acetone, and they are found in nail polish. Benzene cause cancer, while carbon monoxide prevents oxygen from being circulated around the body. This explains why smoking is one of the greatest reasons that leads to diseases like lungs, larynx, bladder, kidney and esophagus cancer, which then leads to early death.
Despite giving every reason why a smoker should quite smoking, they believe that it is alright, and there is no reason why they should quit smoking yet. But Shi Rong mentioned that he has an aunt, who has been smoking for years, but once she knew she was pregnant, she immediately quit smoking as second hand smokers get about 4000 harmful chemicals, and she did not want her baby to suffer.
There are many reasons why teenagers smoke, to rebel, to be “cool”, to socialize, or to even release stress, but in order to stop one from smoking, there has to be more reasons given. “ I will definitely do my best to quit smoking one day, but when that day comes, there will definitely be a worthy reason behind it.”
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