Cigarette smoking is a major stain in the fabrics of family. It endangers one’s health, one’s family and one’s society at large. It should never be seen as an option of last resort but rather seen as a necessary evil which must be avoided by all means. Cigarette smoking is affiliated to all manner of diseases ranging from cancer to heart diseases. Remember whatever you put into your body determines the output from your body; internally and externally.
Emeka, a university graduate with a high paying job in Lagos loves flirting with young women. His flirting made him get closer to young women from different parts of Lagos.
During one of his escapades, he impregnated Tiwa an undergraduate and a cultist who he was later forced to settle down with by both his Relatives and that of Tiwa’s.
Emeka who still thought that he will enjoy intimate relationship with his newly found wife was shocked to the spine to discover that his wife still flirt four years after their wedding.
On so many occasions, he confronted her but to his dismay, his wife was unrepentant but a day arose when she thought about her immoral activities and the repercussion on her and her family. She asked Emeka for forgiveness but was given a condition of being examined by a doctor. After the examination, she was pronounced innocent by the doctor and forgiven by her husband.
Ten years after their marital vow, they had six children; four boys and two girls. The family was fulfilled in that they had the resources to take care of their children
The going was good until their first son Emeka fondly called Junior got admission to the university through dubious means and toed the path of his parents long forgotten.
Junior was a flirt and became a cultist during his first year in the University in that during his third year, his name was a shame among Braniacs and Religious alike.
Junior committed all manner of atrocities; he killed, he raped, and he maimed the defenceless people in the society until the long arm of the law caught up with him and he was made to face the full wrath of the law.
Unknowingly to the parents, Junior had influenced his younger siblings with his smoking attitude when home on holidays and was never caught by his parents in the act due to their tight schedule.
On hearing the detention of his beloved son by the police, the father was heartbroken. He resorted to all means in order to enable the release of his son but it all proved abortive.
Emeka the father was introduce to cigarette smoking by Juwon who was a so-called friend back in their flirting days in order to be free from both his family problems. He smoke packets of cigarette everyday and his children especially the boys were not left out in the smoking spree encouraged by their father which they perpetuated secretly.
His daughters never smoked but they sometimes inhale the harmful substances emanating from mostly their father’s cigarette and sometimes their brothers’.
Tiwa who was an ex-smoker during her undergraduate days when she was a cultist but stopped due to the pressure from her husband and his relatives few months after their wedding tried to discourage her husband from smoking. She suspected that her boys were also smokers and confronted them but they denied it vehemenntly
Thirty years after their marital vow, the marriage turned so sour that the stench emanating from it could even chase houseflies away. Emeka was diagnosed of blood cancer, he battled it with his money and resources but his willpower failed him therefore he kissed the dust. Emeka Junior was tried in a court of law and sentenced to death while the second son Obafemi was struck with coronary heart disease.
Their last son and their two daughters sensing the downturn of events in their family decided to live an upright life.
Their last son, Chidubem and their two daughters Nifemi and Chinenye though diagnosed of cigarette smoking related diseases survived due to their willpower and the encouragement and coaching they received from their mother.
Tiwa a wonderful wife and a mother of six was made both a widow and a mother of three dead children and three sick children all thanks to cigarette smoking.
Tiwa understood that if she does not take care of the remaining three children, two things are involved; it is either ‘She becomes a childless mother and die both a widow and a childless woman or she becomes a woman whose children are in comatose’.
She decided to be a source of encouragement to her children amidst their challenges. Since she was an ex-smoker, she knew the procedures involved in quitting cigarette smoking and being their mother, she could become their confidant.
A bright day with a ray of hope presented itself to Tiwa to talk to her children concerning their unhealthy smoking activities which she took advantage of. Tiwa called her children to her room and told them the story of how she stopped smoking cigarette.
Tiwa was born to the family of the Adegbite’s, a very rich and influential family. She grew up to be loved and respected by all because of her family’s name. She was a lady who loves to be seen hanging with the happening people in the society in that when she gained admission to the university, she was easily spotted due to her lifestyle.
She associated with the happening babes on campus and was easily lured into cultism under the pretense that she will on top of the world. She was naïve and only thought that cultism will make her both ‘Miss Popular and Miss Big Girl’ without an attendant repercussion.
She was forced to cultivate the habit of smoking in order to ‘Belong’ and was very happy with herself when she could smoke packets of cigarette in a day. Little did she know that every packet of cigarette she smokes brings her closer to the graveyard.
When I got married to your father, the pressure to quit smoking was so enormous that it could squeeze water out of a tree. Both friends and family members alike pressurized me to quit cigarette smoking and your father who is a man of understanding took me by the hand throughout the quitting process because he knew it will not be easy for me to quit because I was already an addict.
Your father encouraged me so much that I am indebted to me. He took me to the doctor where I underwent remedial programs designed to rehabilitate and make me a normal person again.
While undergoing the remedial programs, there were some times that I will think of quitting the remedial programs because of the difficulty associated with quitting but seeing the people whom am going to put smiles on their faces if I eventually quit made me continue with the programs.
Within a month, I was able to have full control of myself in that I was no longer a slave to nicotine and its related product and the total revitalization of my body began taking place. I became very healthy, vibrant and young within two years of quitting and far be from it for me returning to unhealthy smoking attitude.
As at today, I am the only surviving member of that cult. I can recall the grave health danger the other cult members passed through before their death. All thanks to your father, my husband who made me quit smoking.
Here I am your mother, I have lost my husband and three children due to cigarette smoking but I do not think that I have failed as a mother since I still have three living children but it all depend on you.
Will you open your heart to me so that I will help in sharing your pains and solving your problems?
Five years later, the three children were grateful to their mother for the encouragement and support she rendered during their quitting process.
You too can quit cigarette smoking if you are only willing to open your heart and follow advice.
Cigarette smoking kills; It is not worth it. Quit Now or Never.
Your name might not be mentioned in that story but if you are smoker, there is no other better opportunity to stop than today because cigarette smoking endangers one’s health, one’s family and one’s society at large. Help a friend who is a smoker by sharing this message with him/her.
Source:[http://www.africanshealth.com/the-dangers-of-smoking-quit-now-or-never-2/]
[http://www.africanshealth.com/how-to-quit-cigarette-smoking-and-have-a-renewed-health/]

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