[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by M G F on May 31, 2009, 5:51 pm, in reply to "Some musings on The Risk"
Your questions seem to imply that you think of the Risk as being suitable for someone in their 20’s or 30’s, but not in their 40’s or older. Certainly the likelihood that one will get a smoking-related illness increases the longer one smokes, but why would the Risk and the pleasure derived from taking it be any different? If anything, I think that, for Marcus and me at least, the excitement and pleasure of taking the Risk has increased as we have approached the 40 year mark (roughly a year away for both of us). It was one thing to deliberately damage our lungs when we were in our teens and 20’s and knew that if we were to quit, virtually all of the damage would be reversed with the passage of time and our bodies natural ability to heal itself. Now, however, we both know that were we to quit smoking some of the damage we have done could never be reversed or even compensated for by improvement in areas that are not permanently damaged. The Risk is heightened and so it the pleasure of taking it.
Since you speak of a “danger zone,” do you also think there is a safety zone? If so, do you think you are in it and at what point does one pass from safe to danger? Do you think you’ll quit smoking when you enter the danger zone?
Personally, I entered the danger zone as soon as I managed to force my tender young lungs to accept and welcome the smoke I deliberately inhaled. It is a danger zone, but for me, it is a comfort zone as well.
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