GirlBrother said:

Exactly. I've seen too many relatives (nonsmokers) that lived to be very old and their latter years were absolutely horrible. Live it up and have fun while you can because you only live once so don't waste those younger years worrying if you're going to live long enough to become miserable.

I smoke and if it means I'll never live to be 80 or 90, oh well....

paisleypark4 said:

'Guilty?' Of what exactly? Sinning? I would not be so presumptuous as to judge.

By the way, every breath you take is contributing to your own death . . . but my guess is you aren't going to stop.

Exactly. I've seen too many relatives (nonsmokers) that lived to be very old and their latter years were absolutely horrible. Live it up and have fun while you can because you only live once so don't waste those younger years worrying if you're going to live long enough to become miserable.

uPtoWnNY said:

Waaaaatch it

Harlepolis said:

Sorry, but lips that touch tobacco will never touch mine.

vainandy said:

is smoking really that much fun?

tell someone to quit n watch what happens .. jekyl n hyde & withdrawls.I can breath n my eyes dont burn when i sit next to someone eatin a burger. Quit ure smokin its disgusting you smell like an ashtray.

ZombieKitten said:

good point. I do agree with andy that maybe we live too long, but no smoking itself is not that much fun. Maybe smoking pot...

NDRU said:

When you're an addict you better believe it's that much fun! I loooooved smoking. I still miss it. But sadly, it's not the same.

I guess you could say yes considering it's unrefuted link to lung and other types of cancer.


But by that logic, so is eating a high fat diet.
Hell, so is eating a diet according to the current food pyramid if
you REALLY think about it.

But unlike smoking, you can eat things in moderation.


I do personally find that in my old age , I find smoking and smoking pot very unattractive features now which I , for whatever reason, associate to youth and personal weakness. It's a double standard as I don't think the same of having a drink or even an occasional 'pick me up' on the dancefloor !!!

I would say it is definitely self-destructive, but not suicide. Suicide is a conscious effort to die, where self destructive behavior is more about denial. We enjoy the burger, we are too lazy to exercise, we enjoy the drugs.

We know they are bad for us, but we sort of push that out of our minds. It's actually about enjoying life & not wanting to face the fact that these habits shorten it. That is very different than suicide.

NDRU said:

True. There isnt a such thing as anything that is harmful to us spiritually other than negative thinking but we can destroy our bodies sometimes in effort to experience and understand how to overcome it, if we do. But I just don't understand the enjoyment in the smoking after all

I can breath n my eyes dont burn when i sit next to someone eatin a burger.

fingertips said:

But I'm a smoker whom doesn't own or drive a car.

When I walk down a busy street, I'm forced to inhale the carbon monoxide and lead from drivers' motor vehicles.

The toxins spilled into the atmosphere from one daily ten minute car ride, far outweigh my ten-a-day cigarette addiction.

And no - nobody needs to own a car for personal use. Take a bus, tram or train to work. Work from home. Buy a bicycle.

heartbeatocean said:

No. Not at all.

I do think that certain people are genetically predisposed to become addicted to nicotine, moreso than others... And this predisposition is also linked to other traits such as a less-optimistic realist outlook on life.

Most of my friends are smokers. I'm more inclined to befriend smokers than non-smokers. There's usually a similar gallows humour in common; a degree of spontaneity; a "f**k it" attitude, which non-smokers don't possess.

I don't believe these personality traits are characterised purely by an addiction to nicotine. Quiet kids whom wear black all the time and listen to The Smiths in their bedroom usually don't develop into shiny happy people in adulthood.

I was just being ridiculous earlier, by the way. Nobody should smoke near children. But comparing smoking to suicide is an extreme comparison, in the same way as "birth = death".

vainandy said:

who in the hell wants to live to be 90??

I would say it is definitely self-destructive, but not suicide. Suicide is a conscious effort to die, where self destructive behavior is more about denial. We enjoy the burger, we are too lazy to exercise, we enjoy the drugs.

We know they are bad for us, but we sort of push that out of our minds. It's actually about enjoying life & not wanting to face the fact that these habits shorten it. That is very different than suicide.

By the way, I spent years wearing black, listening to ONLY the Smiths (many times stoned on my bed ). That description fits me perfectly. I've never had the slightest desire to smoke cigarettes though, except on rare occasion.

GirlBrother said:

definitely if you're talking pollution, cigarettes are not as bad as cars, or even as bad as cows!

So eating a burger has it's own form of "secondhand smoke"

I smoked with the full knowledge...and HOPE...that it would shorten my life.
Seriously, if I was stressed and angry enough to be putting toxins in my own body regularly, I probably was not enjoying life all that much anyway. But without trying to commit active suicide. Why do people do most of the self destructive behaviors that they do? Why do people drink and drive? Why do people sky dive and mountain climb and bungee jump? Trying to make life seem not quite so bland....

BklynBabe said:

I am overposting on this thread, but I find this topic interesting. I am fascinated by self-destructive people. It's so irrational...and depressed. Trying to make life not quite so bland? You mean, it's about getting that edgy feeling of taking risk and deliberately flirting with death?