STORY
A young American family decided to have children. Both, mother and
father smoked since they were young. Young mummy continued with
smoking even during her pregnancy although the doctors warned her
that smoking was not healthy for the child. She always said and
believed that her smoking had no harm on her child because by
inhaling smoke it went into her lungs and not to the child.
So little Johnny was born and his body was already used to tobacco
smokes. However all his childhood he was exposed to passive
smoking, which he didn't like at all. Sometimes he was so angry
with his parents because they smoked that he locked himself in his
room or threw packets of cigarettes in trashes. He swore he would
never smoke especially after being taught in school how harmful
smoking is for people. Johnny was a good student and also a good
sportsman. He trained running and he also won several races. Being
a successful sportsman he was against smoking himself, because he
had a few small problems in school just like other children, but he
solved them all.
He liked to go to the parties, to the cinema and if his parents
allowed him, he also went to the disco. One day one of his friends
invited him to the party. There were mostly teenagers just like
Johnny. Most of them smoked and they made fun of younger ones who
didn't smoke. They also threatened younger boys that everyone who
wouldn't smoke 'a ' would have to go home. Some of younger boys
smoked a cigarette just to stay at the party. Johnny didn't want to
smoke but at the end, when someone said to him that he had to go
home because he was still a kid, he lit his first cigarette.
Now all of younger ones were there standing with a cigarette in
their mouths. The older ones were very delighted and they shook
hand to every 'new' smoker. Most of those new smokers felt sick and
they got pale face but Johnny was 'OK', he just coughed a few
times. Probably because his body was already used to cigarette's
smoke. At first Johnny didn't smoke like his parents and other
boys. He just inhaled smoke but only in his mouth not in his lungs,
and then he exhaled it. However, he felt older and more
important.
A few weeks later one of his friends said to him that he smokes
like kids. He said that he must let the smoke to go into his lungs
and Johnny started to smoke like adults.
For Johnny smoking became a habit already in high school when he
went smoking many times with his friends and usually under the
bridge near their school. When he was in the third grade of high
school he already smoked a box of cigarettes a day. He just
couldn't stay without a cigarette. He smoked in school toilet,
under the bridge near school, behind his house, at his friends, on
stadium after training, on parties, in disco, and he also went for
a walk many times just to smoke 'a '.
He also had troubles a few times because a teacher had found him
smoking in the school toilet, which was restricted. However when
his parents were told that he smoked, they didn't react at all. His
mother also said that that was not weird because all of teenagers
smoked and that she had also smoked when she had been Johnny's age.
So Johnny was able to continue with smoking but he never smoked at
home when his parents were at home because he was full of
shame.
Soon Johnny couldn't concentrate himself anymore. He couldn't start
thinking about school. He didn't listen carefully during the
lessons and was always thinking about 'a ' that he would smoke in
break-time. However, he finished each school year somehow.
Although he was addicted to smoking and he knew that, he didn't
stop running and was still one of the best runners of his age.
However, smoking had had influence on his running but it was not
visible.
In fact, Johnny smoked too much and couldn't run so fast anymore,
he sometimes even couldn't breathe and he often missed the
training. Johnny didn't blame smoking for this failure but he
blamed his lack of training. After training he always coughed hard
and he spitted black tar which came from his lungs.
One day, before an important race, Johnny was very nervous and he
smoked almost a box of cigarettes in turn. Then a tragedy happened.
While he was running he fainted because his lungs, brains and
muscles ran out of oxygen. Doctors took him to the hospital and
they made X-ray picture of his lungs. They found out that he had
lungs almost half filled with tar and consequently his lungs became
very weak.
He had to give up training, which depressed him a lot, but
unfortunately he was not strong enough to stop smoking. He started
smoking even more and his friends advised him not to smoke so much
in vain. His school results worsened and he just made his last
grade. He also succeeded to enter the university but he never got
through it because he spent more time smoking than learning.
He was employed in a factory near his flat and he was just an
ordinary worker although he was smart enough to get through
university and get a good job. His boss always warned him to smoke
less and work more, because Johnny stopped working every five
minutes to smoke 'a '.
Basically Johnny worked for cigarettes and always when he went to
the store he bought some bread, milk and five boxes of cigarettes.
Many times he didn't even pay because he didn't have enough money.
One day he almost made a disaster in the factory, because his
cigarette had caused a fire. Johnny caught fire himself, too and
the fire caused big damage and Johnny was fired.
After this he looked for a job but he couldn't find it because all
of them were low paid or he just didn't like that work. Johnny also
couldn't find a girlfriend because girls didn't even want to look
at him. He was seedy, he wore same clothes for weeks, he stank and
he was unshaved and always sleepy. Cigarettes destroyed his life
totally. He vegetated, he worked from time to time just to earn
enough money for cigarettes and some basic food.
In this way Johnny managed to live quite a long time. But his life
was changing from day to day. He spitted tar every morning and then
someday he felt pain in his lungs. He could hardly breathe so he
went to the doctor. Doctor made him a check-up and he was very
attentive to Johnny's cough. He asked Johnny how many cigarettes he
smoked a day. When Johnny told him how much he smoked, the doctor
said that he should have gone again on X-ray check. At first Johnny
didn't want that, because he remembered the first time when he was
on X-ray examination but then changed his mind. Ater X-ray
examination the doctor found out that Johnny had lung-cancer. At
first Johnny didn't even know how seriously bad that was but when
the doctor said that he had only a few weeks of life more, all was
clear for Johnny and he was very shocked.
As soon as he came out of the hospital he promised himself that he
wouldn't smoke anymore, but those were just words. He came home and
couldn't stand without 'a '. So Johnny spent last days of his life
with a cigarette in his mouth.
When he died a lot of his friends and other people came to his
funeral. Some of them decided to stop smoking just because of
Johnny and his disease.
P.S. Johnny was escorted by cigarette's smoke all of his life. The
cigarette smoke was destroying his life since he was conceived.
Young people have their life still in their own hands. They
shouldn't sell it to cigarettes because the price is too high.
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