Saturday, January 3, 2009
i was helping my dad key in the price list of the stocks into microsoft excel (which i'm proud to say, my skills at it have improved at by leaps and bounds after relentlessly working for NPD) when i thought about something i've been wondering for quite some time already.
i've always disliked smokers, since young. partly thanks to the singapore education system and partly because of the fact that i've always been from a top school where guai kias are rampant, i've always been under the impression that smokers are either chao ah bengs or pai kias. but in the recent years, getting to know certain people (especially in NS) has made me change my opinion towards them.
back in NDU, my bunk was very often the target of the 'tornado'. because certain weeks we were banned from bringing in handphones and cigrattes as punishments for certain incidents, and the instructors were often checking up on the smokers. there happen to be a smoker in my bunk thus we were often left with a destructed bunk and 4 irritated diver trainees. and my smoker bunkmate never fail to apologise to us when that happens even though he did not violate the ban. i could see that he felt guilty and irritated for bringing all those 'misfortunes' on us. as much as i tried to convince him if wasn't his fault, i could tell that he was pissed at dragging us into the mess with him. that was when i realised how he's actually not so gangster-like as he have always appeared to be.
ok don't get me wrong. despite saying all that, do keep in mind that i'm still against smoking. it's just that i've had a changed impression towards smokers. they themselves know that by doing that they're getting into a slow suicide, and they don't need us to tell them. what they need is our help to pull them out of this mess they've got themselves into. i could see that some (or rather most) of them really desired quitting, but to them it's like trying to push mt everest to bukit timah. and no i don't think that nicotine gum thingy i see on tv works
everytime when i helped out at my dad's drink stall at the coffeeshop, i would find myself in doubt when i hand over the pack of cigrattes to the customer. (i probably know the names every pack of cigrattes sold in singapore by now) i would question myself on why i am doing something i myself consider as unethical, something that only kills them, bring harm to the people around them, waste their money and pollute the environment. but always i would have no choice. this is coffeshop business since decades ago, and this is probably something i'll have to take over in the future (ok i never liked to talk about this topic). then again, is there really something i can do about it?
i remember one of my friends telling me how she wanted to take up smoking because she wants her father to realise how it hurts to see your loved ones doing it, in an attempt to make her father quit. as much as i think that it's a crazy idea, deep down i actually admired her courage for wanting to try it (though as a concerned friend i really hope she doesn't).
aaron | 11:39 AM
