My Grandfather smoked his whole life.
My grandpa was a war veteran, born in the 40's and fought through Vietnam. The entire way through, he told me, he smoked cigarettes every day. As often as he could get a pack, he'd blow through the whole damn thing, him and his peers. Even after returning from the war, having children and getting a job at a local health insurance company (ironic, I know), he continued to chain smoke, and eve though he saw the effects of smoking on his peers, he continued because he figured "it will never happen to me". I still remember talking to Grandma about it too, and she told me that she even begged and pleaded with him to stop smoking, and to consider what would happen to both him and his family. He brushed it off, almost taking it as incentive to smoke more.
Still, he smoked throughout the remainder of the 20th century. Through three sons and now 7 grandchildren, he never gave up the habit. Growing up I remember seeing him take countless drags and flying through pack after pack of classic red Marlborough's. I never understood why he did what he was doing for the longest time, because being around it I thought it smelled awful. Still, nobody seemed to acknowledge the problem he had.
It wasn't until about 6 or 7 years ago, when my father finally confronted him about his problem, and delivered this to him:
"If you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate and become successful adults, you have to stop smoking immediately. For your grandchildren. For your kids. For your family."
I still remember him crying in his lazyboy recliner, wishing he could take back all the years of consecutive smoking and the damage they had done to him. Unfortunately, by that time it was too late. He passed away about 3 years ago due to complications from emphysema. From that day on, I made a pledge to never touch a cigarette. Throughout the rest of high school and all of college, I adamantly refused any offer of tobacco handed to me, be it cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, hookas, vape pens, chewing tobacco, snus, the whole nine yards.
Im 28 now, very healthy, and yet I must say, I feel a very slight sense of regret for never having touched the stuff, because your post gave me cancer anyway.
edit: i'm retarded
