POSTING GUIDELINES
This forum is intended to provide an atmosphere of open communication, where each member can share his or her own insights and opinions. To help achieve this goal, we ask that you:
Do not post libelous or illegal material.
Do not post harassing or discriminatory comments based on race, ethnic origin, gender, or sexual orientation.
Do not solicit or advertise.
If you have questions or comments about this forum (such as technical difficulties or performance issues), please contact your forum administrator for the appropriate channel for your inquiry.
Moderation
Any post that violates the above conditions, or departs from the intended purpose of this forum may be removed without notice by the administration.
We reserve the right to edit any post for reasons including, but not limited to: language, length, or content not appropriate to the topic of this forum.
Older threads or messages may be removed from time to time, to main to maintain categories or threads of manageable length.
Any member who breaches these Guidelines through hostile, abusive or other inappropriate behavior may find their account privileges revoked.
Privacy
Remember that this is a public forum, and you have no guarantee or expectation of privacy. Your post could be read by anyone.
Posts can be traced. We record information about every user of this forum, and will honor any court orders or requests by recognized law authorities for information about individuals posting libelous material.
All communications on this board are deemed to by public and not private communications. We reserve the right to remove without notice any message posted for any reason, but we have no obligation to remove content you find objectionable.
Regarding your email address and other personal information
Although we require your email address for verification purposes, we recommend that you do not post it or any other personal information such, as phone numbers or your home address. Your posts can be searched by bots or third parties that have no affiliation with the administrator of this forum.
Disclaimer
The views expressed by members of this forum are their own and do not reflect the position of the administrator or other members. Each member is responsible for the content of his/her own posts.
Please report any activity that you notice which is libelous, inflammatory, or in violation of common decency to the management immediately.
It'll kill you, and those girls of yours really don't need you to die an untimely death.
I know what I'm talking about. My mother, a smoker died a slow, painful death at 60 from a cancer almost unheard of in non-smokers. Sixty is young these days and I could have done with her being around a little longer.
Smokers always think it won't happen to them but it almost always does.
I can't be sure, but from Bob's 'campaign' against the ban on smoking in public places in the UK that he'd argue with us that it is his choice. That's if he smokes regularly. None of us know this, we only have a few pictures and a video of him smoking a cigar, so we make assumptions. Well yes it is, of course, his or anyone else's choice. No-one can deny that. And this is a free country.
Generally on the subject of smoking though, Kidneybean it is tragic that you lost your mother so prematurely due to the effects of smoking. I feel sad for you that you were deprived of her so early. Indeed 60 is nothing. I was deprived of ever having one of my grandfathers, he died before I was born through lung cancer, having been a 40 a day man. My Dad and my Uncle were both teenagers.
I used to work in a hospice and saw some of the devastating and detrimental effects it can have on a person. A couple of years ago someone I knew (not terribly well, but he was someone I admired greatly) died of lung cancer at the age of 38. He didn't smoke or drink and ate very healthily (only organic/vegetarian). We can only think that his death was as a result of passive smoking, probably hanging out smoky student bars when he was younger. How else would he have got it? He'd never smoked in his life! Shocking isn't it? He left behind a wife and small children.
Whilst it is an individual's choice whether or not they decide to smoke, maybe everyone should think first about it. Maybe everyone should visit someone in a hospice and see for themselves what it's like to die from the effects of smoking. As Kidneybean says it is long, slow painful and agonising.
He used to smoke those big cigars - the ones that look like rolled up toilet roles... You dirty rat...
Well, that's what a friend of his told me, anyway. They don't smell so bad as those chemical brothers ciggies. AND they're enviro unbleached and sustainable. As long as he doesn't wear gucci slippers while doing it...
I feel really sad for anyone who has to lose and go through the loss of a loved one - it's not easy to live with someone slowly suffering to death. Some smokers live to long age though. Maybe it's the belief system around it as well, (e.g. cancer is symbolic of deap seated anxiety, fear and anger turned inward) but saying that not negating or invalidating the illness. It is a medical fact that even with heriditary and incurable illnesses - the mental and emotional attitude of the patient contributes greatly to the outcome and suffering of the patient.
It's quite interesting that different traditional societies practice the imbibing of substances - many that have been derived to make chemical legal and non legal pharmaceutical products - but in a very managed and controlled way.
Tobacco for instance is a sacred medicine for the Sioux but they traditionally don't use it in the same way mass commercialism has marketed their dollar signs towards. They smoked for special rituals and use it as an incense. The Celtic Beltane festival and full moon festivities for alcohol... Coca leaves from a South American tribe is quite naturally taken again sporadically with special ceremonies - they even bury it in the ground - not like their powder snorting presidential family dealer counterpart who was reported in USA to be a habitual user. Role models eh?
I think Bob would probably be precise about his substance habits. He'd have his own little ritual/s. Sugar is one of the worst "drugs" because it is in everything and given at the earliest age. I meet many people in third world countries whose organs have rotted from sugar and cheap fermented sugar based alcohol. So sad and heartbreaking to live or spend time with them because they don't have money for medical treatment and die slowly. Catch 22 - they drink to numb the suffering, and suffer because of the drink. It's the worst thing in man and animal. In birds, their feathers drop out - unless they have natural nectars. So again it's also the way, type of sugar and how it is administered. Oh dear, just blobbed again. Sorry.