Dummies

No better time for an intro to my pal Moshe, who is coming towards the end of his tour of duty as a teacher in Spain. His most recent blog entry has to do with smokers, whom I affectionately refer to as dummies:

Today I was giving an English conversation class to Tamara and we began talking about smoking for some reason, and it occurred to me that my entire circle of maybe 20 friends here is composed of non-smokers. Not so abnormal for a group of Americans, but for Spaniards, it's quite rare. Everyone here smokes, even though it's obviously harmful. I have met many smokers my age who could have ended up in my circle of friends, but they didn't.

I didn't think much about why they didn't, and simply told her that non-smokers probably just have a personality more compatible with my own than a smoker does. She asked in what regard, and I said I wasn't quite sure, but after a few seconds' thought, I realized what it was. It is the concept of self-control.

He's on to something here, but I think it goes just a little bit further than a lack of self control. For those of you that have tried a cigarette, what was your first reaction? If it was like mine, it was a severe choking attack followed by sheer panic at realizing that a) your lungs are on fire and b) you can't breathe. Now the normal, rational person with an elementary school education would know that if your body just went through that kind of reaction to something, then you walk away (and usually never turn back).

It's also not quite like doing harder drugs - the effects of those, both harmful and "mind-altering" are quite well known before your first time. Cigarettes give the loser user a feeling of calm from the nicotine, but that is not a well known side effect to a non-smoker. Sure peer pressure plays in to it, but the simple fact is there is some wiring in lungers that is crossed wrong, something that says "even though you're choking to death now, you'll eventually get used to it and, after a period of time, will enjoy this new habit of yours before your addiction gets to you and you can't break away without medical intervention."

Somebody, if you think it would do any good, forward this to my sister.