The Corrupted World Of Floyd Banks

Teens in general today... pt.1 Smoking

I'M FED UP NOW. THINGS GETTING OUTTA HAND AND I WANT SOMEONE TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY! WHY ARE WE DOING THESE THINGS?

It's been bugging me now for a long while... why the hell is everyone doing these things? I'm 18 now, so i'm classed as a teen and as youth in society, but i don't follow the masses and do all of the stupid things that they're doing!
Some of the things i'm talking about today that people i KNOW are vitcims of is smoking,drinking alcohol and sex.

When I'm talking in this entry I'll be saying you and alyuh alot. Because i'm talking to all of you youths out there that are reading this. When you read this message me and try to explain to me WHY you do some of the things you do...

First i'm going to try to tackle the issue of
SMOKING
Why would you want to smoke... Some people i know who smoke i ask them,

"Aye, why you smoking that cigarette jed? You know that going to kill yuh rite?"
Listen to their response...
"So?"
I tried again,
"You never see them smoking commercials and thing or wha? Or you never read the Surgeon General smoking warning? SMOKING DOES KILL! Lung cancer!!!"
Their response..
"Well, i do really care an ting too eh. If it kill meh, it kill meh. I just like to smoke."

Some people reading this thinking, that the person i'm talking about is an idiot because they KNOW the consequences of smoking, but they're doing it anyway. But, look at this way, if you're in a class and a teacher is there teaching a topic, but you're busy talking with your friend about something (obviously not school related), you KNOW the consquences of talking during class, but you're doing it anyway. See the connection.

At this point people are probaly protesting and saying in their mind,
"Talking in class and smoking is not the same." And you know what, you're right. It's NOT the same. Smoking could kill you or give you medical complications... Talking in class won't do that. Look at how many non-smoking advertisments are out there on television and in the newspapers and there are even those voluntary groups that tour schools.

Tell me if you haven't seen this commercial. The setting is a party. Loud music, everyone having a good time. A girl sees a boy she likes, he watches her and smiles, she turns away and blushes. The boy comes across and poses in front of her and pulls from his back pocket a packet of cigarettes. He then starts to hit the packet in his hand for the cigarette to come out. At the same time the commercial replaces the guy with a monkey doing the same thing. The girl disgusted by the boy gets up and walks away from him.

I KNOW more than half of you reading this has seen that commercial. And i DO see people i know doing the same thing the boy was doing, hitting the packet on the hand for the cigarette and all i could think of is how stupid they're looking just like that monkey.
Popular reasons why people say they smoke:
1)Because of stress
2} They tried it once and got addicted
3) It looks cool
4) All of their friends are doing it
5) Because of stress

Luckily i'm in a writing mood, so i'll go through all of the reasons given and show how idiotic they are.
Because of stress. Parents often complain and say,
"What stress could a 15,16 or 17 year old have?". Trust me, i understand when people say they have stress. I was just there 3 years ago. Exams, friends, girls (or boys if you're a girl), trying to get money to buy something, trying to look cool in front of people, parents always hassling you to do good in school. Believe me i KNOW about stress. But, you're going to give yourself lung cancer because you have stress? You could relieve that stress in a 100 other ways than smoking. I use writing as a form of stress release. Or you could go and play your Playstation 2 or Xbox or GameCube. Hell, go take a walk down the road or something, but saying you smoke because you have stress is not justifiable. I think this is made popular in movies too, when characters in movies get stressed they ask their friend for a cigarette even though they never smoked before.
e.g. 40 days and 40 nights with Josh Hartnett. Just look at it this way, you're trying to relieve your stress by giving your body MORE stress? Not very smart if you ask me...


Tried it once and got addicted . This is similar with alcohol. You might just take a pull on a cigarette or you say to yourself,
"Lemme see what the big thing is about.." and you decide to try smoking just to see what it's like. Though you're unaware the next time you see people smoking you ask someone for one and for a light and you're puffing away. Soon, you begin to develop a craving for it because of the nicotine which makes you come back for more... The people who tell me this is their reason as to how they started, i kinda feel sorry for because they weren't really trying to get themselves into it, they just fell victim to it. And these are the people quickest to say they don't have a smoking problem because they'll say that they don't have one and they could stop anytime they won't. One thing that people should realise is that
"If you cannot go without smoking for 2 weeks, then you have a smoking problem"

It looks cool and their friends are doing it
This could be bundled as one because it essentially deals with the same. Out of the 10 of your friends, you're the only one who doesn't smoke. You see all of them there posing off on the wall, pulling out their cigarettes, putting in their mouth and lighting it all in one swift motion. The way how they inhale and make the cigarette light up with the expression on their face to how they move it away from their mouth and they have the option to either blow the smoke in the air or blow it at someone or they could even do tricks like make the rings...it just looks so cool. Often people who smoke for some reason are said to be the cool crowd. Because when they're smoking they look stress free and are just chilling. They're on a whole new level of high. How could you possibly resist?? It just looks so inviting and fun that you HAVE to try it out. And after all they ARE you friends right? They wouldn't do anything that's stupid. Look how long they've been smoking and nothing happened to them! One of them even said how his uncle smokes and drinks from when he was 16 and he's now 57 and he's healthy as a horse!

......... I wonder if anyone noticed that what just happened in that paragraph was peer pressure in its sneakiest form. The indirect way. Your friends didn't directly ask you to smoke or force you to smoke, but since you hang out with them you're influenced to do it.

So, now that you've started smoking everyone's happy right? You're with the in-crowd, all of the girls (or boys) will be watching you when they pass you, you could make the rings with smoke now! NO WORRIES!!!! How wrong you are...

When you start to smoke, you get smokers breath and your clothes smell smoky. So, whenever you walk into a room everyone would turn their head and know it's you. It's not a good thing to be smelling like you're smoking. I know personally that girls do NOT like that at all. It's a total turn-off. Well probaly there's a 5% of girls that DO like it, but the majority don't. Not to mention when you're talking to people they sometimes turn away because your smokers breath is unbearing. So almost all of the time you would have to walk with a mint in your pocket to try and disguise the smell.
Did i mention that you would soon have constant cravings? Because not that you're addicted you can't go for long periods of time without one. I've seen it happen up close and personal, people start to break out in cold sweats and they HAVE to find a cigarette. It's kind of funny to see, but the harsh reality of it is actually scary. So you'll be spending alot of money on buying a single cigarette AND mint or you might as well just save yourself the trouble and buy a packet one time.
Oh yeah, another popular thing that happens to smokers is that their teeth start to turn yellow. Seriously, this DOES in fact happen. Your teeth do start to turn color... Do i have to continue on this point?
Well, smoking in most places are not allowed, so if you have to smoke you have to excuse yourself and go outside to buss one down. So if it's raining or something, with the vicious nicotine monkey on your back, you don't care you're braving the perfect storm just to get your daily supplement. Its sometimes inconvenient because you may be in the middle of a class and you need to buss down a smoke or your friends (the non-smokers) may be somewhere and because you aren't allowed to smoke in that area you have to excuse yourself and go elsewhere to buss down the smoke.
My last point on why smoking should NOT is that people just don't like smokers! If you're going to a job interview to ALMOST anywhere, if you go smoking or smell of smoke that would not be an impressive thing to your interviewer. Most people wrinch at the smell of smokers. Older people disapprove of young people who smokes, you could tell by the expression on their face. Police don't let teens/youths smoke, so anytime you see someone in authority in the distance you have to throw away that PRECIOUS cigarette what you paid good money for and try to clear away the smoky aroma away from you so that they don't suspect you of doing that.

Smoking... just don't do it... it doesn't make sense. And if you ARE a smoker and you are trying hard to change use the one of the patches or one of those things. They DO work, it's just that you have to get the determination to get rid of that hazardous habit. It's hard... i've heard so much people say that and for a good 3 weeks they wouldn't smoke and then just so BAM, they start back...it's up to that person and that person alone to make the decision to give up smoking once and for all. You could talk to the person and encourage them and give them the support to do it.

For inspiration keep this commercial i saw. I think some of you also saw it.

There was this girl standing at the edge of a pier staring at something in the water. You could hear a person calling for help and screaming. The camera moved down and you saw another girl 4 feet away from the pier struggling in the water. The girl in the water was screaming at her friend for help as she was drowning. Her friend on the pier just stood there emotionless staring at her as the girl in the water kept screaming and gurgling drowning. The screen then turned black with the girl still screaing in the background. A message then came up on the screen saying:
"This is what happens when you see your friend doing drugs. You see them dying, but you refuse to help them. Why won't you help your friend?"

When i saw that commercial my jaw dropped. It hit home hard and i always keep it in mind when i'm talking to my friends. I'm not just going to sit back and let them drown.


THAT'S ALL FOR TODAY. AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED ON ALCOHOL AND PROMISCUOUS SEX!!!! THAT'LL BE FOR ANOTHER DAY WITH THE TOPIC BEING:
Teens in general today... pt.2 Alcohol abuse
AND
Teens in general today... pt.3 Sex
They'll be heated, they'll be personal, they'll be here for you to read. Just make sure to keep checking back!!!
PEACE OUT PEOPLE!!!