Editorial: Dangers of Smoking by Vilai Yang

When I was young, I use to think smoking was cool. I thought that if I smoked, I too would be cool. I remember when I was in 5th grade, my older cousins smoked and I thought they were really cool. But when I started learning about cigarette smoke in class, I realized I was wrong. One day when I was hanging out with my cousins who smokes, they asked me to try it. They told me it was fun and it wouldn’t hurt to try something “cool.” I turned them down and told them I don’t want to do anything that can affect my body. One of the main reasons why I would never attempt to try smoking is remembering what my teacher told me. He said that smoking will shorten your life and also, my parents dislike smokers. One of the worst things I’ve seen is parents talking to their children while smoking in front of them. Even though the children aren’t smoking, inhaling the cigarette smoke can still damage their health. Matter of a fact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, secondhand smoke can cause cancer in our lung, pancreas, kidney, cervical, and brain. Parents who smoke should prohibit smoking in front of their children or anyone else that may be affected by secondhand smoke because they do not deserve to have an unhealthy body. Smoking is not healthy for the human body. It can shorten your life and can also hurt the love ones around you. Make a cautious choice and say no to cigarettes. Smoking makes you smell and the most dangerous effect of cigarettes is it can kill you.