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CIGARETTES -
COFFIN NAILS
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Movie stars had a "butt" dangling from their
mouths, flicked ashes into trays, blew smoke rings, and helped the
cigarette companies make many millions of dollars. All of this tragedy
went on for a century. The lives and health of generations of people
were impaired and cut short. |
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Yet the glamour of tobacco has not been totally erased.
Some young people today, still think it is "smart" and status
to smoke. They feel they are immune to the addiction and cancers that
have filled many a grave. Let me give you a couple of examples that are
close to home.
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My sister. After high school took nurses training in the
Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, Vermont. She stayed on there for a
time and became head of the Maternity Ward. She also started to smoke
cigarettes. At the hospital finishing up his certification as a
Radiologist was Dr. Charles August Sternbergh. He married my sister.
Surely Dr. Sternbergh saw plenty of evidence of the damage that smoking
did to the lungs. But my sister never could give up the smokes. She had a
stroke and laid in bed for a couple of years before passing on.
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Her experience shows just how powerful the addiction is.
In another case, a woman lived with us for three years. She took not one
but two courses trying to quit. But she never could quit. After she left
us, she developed lung cancer, had radiation and chemotherapy, before
passing on.
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In other words, smoking used to be portrayed as the
sophisticated woman lighting up and the `Marlboro man. Now are those who
smoke dam fools or just plain stupid. So one may ask young smokers, do
you have a brain or just a hole in your head?
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