That Burning Question

They come with the territory as any smoker will tell you; an occupational hazard which can’t be avoided. If you have been smoking so long that you have talked yourself into this idea, that burns are something you must accept, please think twice. The reality is that burns, on your skin, on your table, on your clothes or your carpet are not acceptable. While you’re admitting this, try and go one step further and accept the idea that what you are doing is dangerous. The more you smoke, and the longer you smoke, the more you increase your risk of injury. If you have gotten this far then please, ask yourself this: What if the person you hurt is not yourself? Is it still okay to practice a habit that endangers others?

Here is how you create these risks. Smokers all think it is okay to smoke and do other things. It is all right to work and smoke, to watch TV in bed and smoke, to play with your children and smoke, to clean the house and smoke. Smokers were the original multi-taskers in that sense, weren’t they? But if you take one moment and think about what you are doing you might begin to see just how dangerous this behavior is. You are, in effect, performing your daily activities with a lit torch in your hand. In that light, you are an accident waiting to happen.

Do yourself a favor and pay attention to your behavior during the course of any given day. Do you get caught up on the phone and when you suddenly remember that your cigarette exists, you discover that the ashes have fallen on the floor? What about cooking and smoking? It can be any activity where your attention is drawn away from the cigarette for any length of time. You are letting an open flame go unnoticed, Know this, this is important. You create fire risks each time you multi-task.

So if have burn marks on your clothes, on your curtains and carpets you have taken dangerous risks that are, in all honesty, unacceptable. The chemical burns on your skin when you refill your lighter are unacceptable. The burns you may have given your children when they hug you unexpectedly are unacceptable. And this last point is most important, for the next risk you take on might not hurt you at all, it might hurt someone you love. You have to come to terms with this uncomfortable fact: Your addiction can hurt others.

This leads us to a provocative question. If you know what you do hurts those you work with, or those you love, what does that say about who you are? The choice seems a little simpler now, doesn’t it? Cigarettes don’t hold a candle to love.

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