Everyone knows that tobacco is bad for you. You learn it in school,
you read about it in newspapers, and your parents have probably told you
a thousand times not to smoke. Then why do almost all smokers begin when
they are teenagers? Did you know that one third of the people who start smoking
when they are teenagers will die prematurely from tobacco related illnesses?
If that is not enough of a reason not to start smoking, here are 55 more!
1. I'll have fewer wrinkles, especially around my mouth.
2. If I do not start smoking, I'll save enough money in one year ($900.00)
to buy all the CD's or jeans I want!
3. My breath will smell better than my dog's.
4. I'll be around to spoil my grandchildren.
5. At restaurants I will not have to go outside for a smoke while
my friends talk about me!
6. My parents and doctor will stop preaching to me about not
smoking.
7. I'll live longer and be less likely to develop emphysema, heart
disease, stroke and cancer.
8. I want to keep my edge and not feel or smell like an outcast in
public.
9. I won't have to worry about how smoking is ruining my health.
10. I won't have to hide my habit from my parents.
11. None of the really "cool" rock stars I know smoke!
12. My fingers won't get frost bitten when I go outside in cold
weather.
13. I'll be able to exercise without gasping and do better in sports.
I'll be able to run faster than my teammates and opponents.
14. I'll cough less.
15. I'll be able to taste and smell food.
16. I will have fewer ear and respiratory infections.
17. My lipstick won't smudge.
18. I won't have to wonder if my date is bothered by cigarette
smoke.
19. My teeth will be whiter.
20. I won't waste time looking for a smoking area everywhere I
go.
21. I'll stop wheezing.
22. My date will not say that kissing me is like kissing an
ashtray.
23. (For women) My baby will be at lower risk for sudden infant death
syndrome and lower birth weight. I will also save my unborn child from nicotine
withdrawal.
24. (For men) I will not have to worry poor sexual performance (impotence)
when I get older.
25. My fingers and fingernails won't turn brown.
26. It's one less thing to carry around.
27. I will not be burning holes in my favorite clothes.
28. My car and bedroom won't reek.
29. I won't need to look forward to receiving oxygen through a nasal
tube.
30. I'll have more energy.
31. I'll save money on dry cleaning.
32. I'll have friends (since the vast majority of adults do not
smoke).
33. I will not allow anything (nicotine) to control my life.
34. I'll want to be a good role model for my brothers and
sisters.
34. I will be in the majority! Smoking isn't "in."
36. I will have better job opportunities.
37. I will show my friends that I have the guts to say "no" to something
that is not good for me.
38. I will not become one of the adults who dies every 13 seconds
from a smoking-related disease.
39. I will show the tobacco companies that they cannot fool me into
smoking by their slick advertising or clever promotions.
40. I do not want to become one of the young smokers who replaces
an adult smoker dying of cancer.
41. I'll have fewer pimples.
42. I would not put bad gas in my car, so why should I put formaldehyde
(the same stuff used to preserve frogs), cyanide (the same poison that kills
rats), nicotine (an insecticide found in bug killer) and 4,000 other bad
chemicals into my body with each cigarette?
43. Not smoking is cool. Being cool is really about making your own
choices, being true to yourself, and not listening to what some of your friends
(or TV, movies and magazines) tell you to do.
44. Why would want to cut eight minutes off my life for every cigarette
I smoke?
45. Why would I want to be the sucker that the tobacco companies got
to replace the adult smoke who died from tobacco-related disease?
46. Adult smokers come from teen smokers who can't quit. Ninety-five
percent of smokers started when they were kids. So why should I start? It's
really only for kids!
47. I won't have to worry about being asked to show identification
with my age.
48. My allowance will last longer.
49. Other people will stop looking at me like I'm stupid.
50. I will have one less bad habit.
51. I will have one less New Year's resolution.
52. I will prove to my parents that I am capable of making good decisions.
53. I will not have to hide in a bathroom to sneak that "needed puff."
54. I will not have to carry around mints to hide the smell of my
breath.
55. I will be on the road to developing into a healthy human being
who will be a good role model for others.
Reprinted with permission from TeenGrowthTM.
