Say No To Smoking
53It's never too late to quit
It was this bright silver dawn of summer, 16 years ago, a small mistake made me what I am not today. Half asleep at the wee hours and hastily wanting to empty my waste I headed to the not so pleasant restrooms of our hostel. Of all the least preferred places to strike a friendship, I came across this familiar stranger blowing up his daily ritual showoff rings. Showoff rings? Well to many of our surprise, he did not have any expensive metal or mineral pieces in his hands, neck or on any part of his body. Yet of the entire not more than the 100 boarders, anyone who happened to pass by this place would not resist desiring this unlikely and unlucky prize. It was here, my stars aligned to possess this not so coveted prize. I must admit, I felt some kind of unanswered anxiousness through the stranger’s eyes as he offered his hands forward. Ignoring the voice of my conscience, I accepted his friendship not by exchanging a handshake but learning to invent my very own first showoff ring.
The joy of inventing a ring and striking a new friendship made our visits to that stingy heaven more frequent. It was not long when a few more adventurous adolescents joined us and in about thirty days from that forgetful day we had a whole gang indulged in making our own styled showoff rings.
Life on the other side existed too. In this early stage of youth with brimming confidence and the appetite to outdo your peers hungrily fostered in most of us. The first taste of success, the first achievement or the first cry of “Eureka, Eureka”, led all of us display our skills and talents as much as we could. Competitive envy grew within us and the desire to excel overtook everything else.
Amidst the lap of the largest abode of snow and the golden peaks, every breadth of air leased a new reason to succeed. In my selfless, unintended journey to carve out a place for myself I adopted examples from my big brothers. The mark of a great man is known by the legacy he leaves behind. I idealized the so called some of the famous big brothers, in simple our seniors. In my quest to leave something behind for the years to come, I knew I could outdo the big brothers. The ever-increasing rush of adrenalin could not stop achieve the most difficult of all tasks. Ten years ago, I was admitted to this institution raw and uncut but with each passing day I was cleaving to form a paragon of shimmer and brilliance through the budding achievements and experience. My passion for surpassing all what I had achieved had taken the forefront to inventing the showoff rings.
Yet the years to follow took a different turn. The habit of making these rings secretly became more and more prominent. The rings surprisingly transformed into clouds where our already stingy heaven turned into a murky paradise through the gang’s short and stimulated productions. There was this virtual boastful ego which made us think we were the only people born to enjoy every bit in this world. Anyone disregarding our achievements were made scapegoats of unreasoned verbal and sometimes physical bully.
Gradually this sham production of showoff rings and clouds took precedence over my competitive passion to excel. So eager and addicted I was over this once occasional fervor, it now became significantly frequent. It was time I called it a habit, an addiction. With this newfound showoff ringoholic preoccupation of mine, I lost grip in what I used to be the best. All the respect I had built up and achieved through the brilliance of my budding talent slowly started fading away. I became less known for my achievements but rather recognized as the showoff ringoholic. Slowly but steadily, along with it came a tag of shame, fear, hopelessness, failure and rejection. Giving way to my confidence, inspiration and self motivation, hesitating to follow my inner voice I had compromised my conscience, I took the road that was already taken by many. Until today, I failed to build a road of my own.
Sixteen years later, in this chilly dusk of winter I took the most important and wise decision of my life. It realized the mistake I made and that is why I am what I am today. I gave up on producing the show off rings. Nonetheless, to mention the already well known fatal hazards of the showoff rings, today I feel rejuvenated – my confidence, self-motivation and inspiration a little shaken but still intact just to bid goodbye the final ashes of a cigarette. Better now than never, it is always never too late to say no to smoking.
