The Green Timberwolf

Think of the Children

By: Hunter

I get it, sometimes you get stressed and need a smoke or a drink. Sometimes you would rather take the elevator, and sometimes you get Mcdonalds because it's down the street and you don’t have to cook it; but if you choose these things everyday you might be unhealthy.

I’m not going to go on a spiel on the effects of being unhealthy because we have all heard it before. I want to talk about how you being unhealthy effects your family and friends.

You might think that your smoking or drinking or unhealthy eating habits don’t affect others. Secondhand smoke causes approximately 7,330 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each year. But i'm not just talking about the physical effects, you are also affecting their well being. Your family is there when you get sick, they see the pain you're in, they see you getting weaker and not being able to do the stuff you love, they have to pay for your medication and treatments and then finally they have to deal with the lose when you pass away at an early age.

I know how they feel, I was a child watching my grandfather dying in front of me because when he was young he smoked cigarettes. I watched him pretend he was okay when nurses opened his chest and when he had many heart attacks. I watched as my grandmother cried because he passed away to soon at the age of 61 one month from his 62nd birthday. In his defense he had heart issues already since he was born, which was in 1946, he started smoking because of family trauma at a very young age, and he quit smoking in 1997; but his smoking lead to a chest infection and for his heart to get worse. Because of this, I didn’t have my papa while I graduated grade 8, when I got my driver's licence and he won’t be here for me to graduate high school or for me to follow in his footsteps and join the military. Be healthy so you can be there for your family as long as possible.

References

Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/smoking-facts/health-effects-of-secondhand-smoke.html?referrer=https://www.google.ca/