Quit Smoking-And Get On The Right Side Of The Road

One of the things I try to do as a teacher, who works to help folks stop smoking, is to try and get in the skull of a smoker. I mean, what is going on there?

How does it feel to be a smoker in this day when all around
you there’s harping on you to stop smoking-- or you will surely die?

It’s got to be an awful time for those who are smoking.

Well, I think I have made some headway in my attempt tornget in the smoker’s skull. And it has to do with one horrible experience of finding myself on the wrong side of the road.

Ever been there? It’s frightening! All you want to shout is:
“Get me out of here, fast!”

That must be how a smoker feels. He is scared to death on
one hand, but not able to find the right exit wherein he could easily get himself out of danger.

For the smoker: No quick way out…And all he sees are cars
honking their horns as they pass him by-- with grim drivers’ hands--frantically trying to get him to get out of their speeding-close-to-him-cars.

It’s got to be frightening. And I sympathize much.

When I came to stopping smoking— some forty-eight years past--it was much easier. Cigarette firms hadn’t yet come
up with models to see how nicotine enters the brain and does all that good stuff.

Cigarettes were not as addictive then as now. Now Addic- tion is a science--developed—demon-like--by cigarette-chemists. So it is much harder to quit.

…So if I were on the wrong side of the road now, here’s what I would do if I could: I would pull my car as far from the shoulder of the road as I possibly could. I’d shut the engine off—and I would call for help… whether to me or someone else.

I would make that call now. “Tell me where to exit,” I would
call out.

“Here’s where I am,” I would further explain. (“Tell me what I can do.”)

I wouldn’t try to drive farther—without someone getting to me or directing me to where the right exit is.

But I wouldn’t wait long. Nightfall could be coming. And things really could get fatal.

…You’re on the wrong side now, but there’s no reason to think you have to spend your life there!

…And there is nothing like driving on the right side of the road—once you’ve quit smoking!