[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by vesperae Thank you for your introduction and kind comments. Tomcat: "I don't think this is true in 98% of the 'start smoking' cases. In my opinion, *very* few people wake up one morning and say 'Today, I am going to become a smoker', and run out and buy cigarettes and lighters and ashtrays and just start smoking right there and then." The point is that the first time anyone takes a significant "real" drag of a cigarette and inhales it, s/he always gets sick, unless s/he is one in a million physiologically, or unless s/he is very, very drunk, or is already accustomed to inhaling "other types" of smoke. And the only reason that anybody takes another drag and tries to inhale it again is because being able to smoke like others is more important to her/him than what her/his body is saying in no uncertain terms - "smoking isn't something that I want to do." And that is what makes the smoker and smoking so "cool/naughty/bad/controversial/stigmatized/etc." - the fact that s/he is more interested in indulging her/his ego than in prioritizing her/his obvious physical needs. The mechanics and social situations of the process of becoming a regular smoker vary considerably from individual to individual, but the basic philosophical implication of this deliberate choice and self-abuse are the same, and is the one common thing that all smokers share, regardless of their superficial differences. * * * * *vesperae
Link: Let's Think Back to Your First Cigarette...
on July 30, 2007, 10:01 pm, in reply to "Let's Think Back to Your First Cigarette"
Hi Tomcat/G, 
V: "You didn't listen to what your body was telling you, because it was more important to you to become a smoker."
You are applying a much too literal interpretation to this.
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