I have been rethinking all of my old attitudes about smoking, and most of them are changing. One that hasn’t changed is that smoking is a gamble. I always thought of it as such, so my attitude in that respect is the same. However, before I just didn’t care to ponder it very much.
If you have ever been to Las Vegas, or seen pictures of it, you have seen some amazing sights. The city is on the go all twenty-four hours every day. The strip has some of the most incredible buildings in the country. There are pyramids, skyscrapers, castles, and even an Eifel Tower. At night the lights of the city make the desert glow like a diamond from a hundred miles away. The city is growing so fast, with so many new buildings, it’s hard to keep up with it all.
The one thing that fuels it all is money. The cash flows into the city like water over Niagara Falls. And the flow of money is sustained by the odds. The whole city is built on the backs of suckers. What we do in the casinos is called gambling because you do take a risk in the hopes of getting a reward. But the odds are against you each time you put down some money. In the long run, it is inevitable that the money flows in one direction. Gambling is, to me, a tax on the mathematically challenged.
Smoking is just like gambling in Vegas. The odds are definitely against you. Sure, we all know anecdotal incidents where people live to be one hundred years old, and smoke three packs a day. So what? Out of the billions of smokers in the world, is one or two of those enough to convince you that you will have no consequences? Having negative health consequences because of smoking is a sure thing, in the long run you will lose.
Every cigarette is Russian roulette. Every puff is a roll of the dice. It’s a sucker’s game. And with smoking, it’s not money you risk. It’s your very life.
The amazing thing is, I have always seen smoking in this way. Why I never acted upon that belief is a subject for another post – when I figure that one out.