Day X

Mother Nature

     Maybe Mother Nature’s trying to tell us something, what with all that retching, hacking, and coughing we do when we first try tobacco, perhaps it's trying to tell us- "It's not natural!"

     I really don’t know, but it’s worth thinking about before starting, if you haven’t all ready. The thing is that nicotine acts as a euphoric, bringing relief from stress. Kids have a lot of stress! Nicotine temporarily heals our anxiety, calms us down, and so every time we're anxious, we reach for a smoke. People with depression smoke cartons away, and who can possibly have more anxiety? Anyway, teens have a lot of angst, especially in high school. For sure the industry knows that, and it's why it has been targeting kids since way back in the day.

     Considering the strong stench of tobacco, it’s amazing our parents never noticed we were smokers. Maybe since everybody smoked, and stench was everywhere, nobody paid any attention. Back then it was no big deal...in the sixties, everybody was smoking.

     I grew up in the Bronx, and went to an all boy's high school, Haaren High, in Manhattan. The school no longer exist, but the building is still there, and is now a college. I lived in a five story tenement, in a nabe that is now a juvie penitentiary. They tore it all up, all of it, and built a huge jail for kids.

      I remember the minute I walked off the stoop, I used to almost always light up. I felt it was a good smoke on the way to the subway, it calmed me, and somehow the smoke lasted all the way to the subway station, which was four long blocks away on 3rd Av and 149th street.