by Michel Kordas

Created on: May 25, 2007

Like many young people I became addicted to smoking when I was 16. Spending time in the French army where we would get free cigarettes did not help anything. At age 22, my brother Alain told me "hey Michel, here is what you are doing in the morning when you get up..woah woah woah...caughing your lungs out. Give me your cigs and I have a better plan for you." I did not want to and he gave me some candies. "Suck them and keep on working." Alain is an asthma sufferer and was sick and tired of me smoking around him. The first hours were a real challenge and at the end of the day I begged my brother "Give me my cigs or I will kill you." "No, sir..not on my watch" Thirty five have gone by and I have not lighted one yet.

What a joy that is to be able to breathe freely, not to worry about emphysema and to enjoy an healthy lifestyle. I can run, walk, bike and feel good.
Voltaire said it so well: "If God had intended for us to smoke, he would have placed a chimney on our head."

Smoking has a social effect of belonging to a group when you light up. Never mind the feeling of dizziness when you do it the first time or worst throw up as I did. The addiction is slowly coming to overtake you and control your best senses. What a waste of time, money and resources to go and buy a substance that will surely kill you slowly and painfully. People tell me I look in my early 40's when I am 58. What a blessing. Tobacco is a powerful drug.

To find help you may contact a local Seventh Day Adventist church for a five day plan clinic to stop smoking. www.sda.org or try what I told some friends while walking in a hay maze. www.zyban.com Zyban will help reduce the anxiety and cravings. The good news my friends quit and I am so glad I could help. Sure people will say: "Smoking will kill you, we don't care we are not in a hurry." You will add in average about 10 years of quality life if you choose not to light up a cigarette. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..cigarettes." That is the best advice I have. In an article I found out about a drug to help you stop smoking manufactured by Pfizer. A drug called varemicline brand: Chantis. Check with your doctor is this is the appropriate treatment for you. It is possibly helpful to help quit drinking as well.

As for wine, it is the grape juice that is good, not the alcohol. "You are French and you don't drink wine? "Non, merci beaucoup." We were maneuvering in Germany with my military friends in a cold November night near Munich and it started snowing. My Sergent asked an Alsatian by the name of Steiner to find a farm - where we could spend the night - instead of in the woods for an hotel. I was glad to see Steiner's tall frame back with good news. The farmer welcomed us" Wilcommen fransoze. Das gut. Ein bisen Schnapps? Oui,un petit peu. Prosit! A little Schnapps alright. I was drunk like a skunk and so sick, I fell next to a cow in the hay. The next day, I threw it all up. I vowed right then and there, I would never drink again and that was 37 years ago. I never had a beer, a glass of wine and nothing except good fruit juice since and an occasional root beer. Cured for life.

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