Speech on Dangers of Smoking and How to Quit It

I have a niece. Her name is Batrisya. She is four years old yet she speaks like an old woman. She is very talkative and sarcastic too. Her father is a smoker. Once, I overheard her conversation with her father. Her father was asking her to take his cigarette for him because he wants to smoke. “Dad, I will not give or take the cigarette for you. It is dangerous to smoke”, *pause for 3sec* Batrisya answered. As I have told you before, she is a four year old kid. You would not expect her to say something like this to her father. At her age, she is supposed to be innocent and do as her father has told her to do. I don’t think any of us will do the same thing if we were her. Will you do the same thing? I don’t think so. This story is very well connected to my topic today.
A very good morning to the honorable judges, time keepers, teachers, ladies and gentlemen and fellow friends. Today, I want to talk about the ‘Dangers of Smoking and How to quit it’. Let me begin by asking a few questions. What is smoking? What are cigarette? I bet all of you know the answer but in case you don’t know, smoking happens when a person smokes and to smoke a person will need a cigarette.
Here’s another question. Are you young? Are you old? Do you smoke? I don’t care whether you are young or old. As long as you are a smoker, slowly but surely killing himself, take my speech as a warning. Smoking has become a serious issue today as it has become one of the major killers in human. Smoking is responsible for more deaths each year than drug and alcohol abuse, car crashes, AIDS, murder and suicide put together. So, think about it the next time you light up. But people these days are eager to take up smoking. Why? Well, they think that it makes them look sophisticated and grown-up while some smokes because their friends ask them to smoke. Yet, everyone knows… YES, everyone knows that smoking destroys the body. Even a four year old kid knows that smoking destroys the body! Smoking is very addictive. It takes a person about ten to fifteen years to completely give up this habit. Smokers are often irritable when they cannot smoke because their bodies are craving for the nicotine found in cigarette.
Ladies and gentlemen, teachers and fellow friends, Smoking is dangerous for smokers as well as non-smokers and why is that so? According to reliable resources, in the year of 2008 to 2009, a statistic has shown that a non-smoker is more likely to die first than the one who smokes. It is also proven by scientists that the smoke blown out by a smoker is more harmful than the smoke from the cigarette which is inhaled by a smoker. Therefore, smokers not only harm their own health but others as well. In other words, a smoker is killing himself as well as the others when he is smoking. Smoking has been found to cause lung cancer and other forms of cancer. Lung cancer claims over 123,000 lives in America alone while another 35,000 will die from other cancers. If you think that smoking will only cause lung cancer, you are absolutely wrong! Cancers of the lip, mouth, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, gullet and cervix are much more common among smokers. Shocking right? Smoking is also said to cause heart disease, bronchitis, asthma, stains our teeth, skins and nails. If you are already smoking, try and break this habit immediately and if you are trying to quit smoking here are three steps how to do it. First of all, think about giving up smoking. I know some smokers will think like this, “Oh… I can’t live without smoking! Oh… I will die!” But don’t you know when you are smoking; you are killing yourself and others as well! You can be considered as a murderer! I mean… an invisible one. As people say, smoker is a silent killer!
So, spend some time thinking about maybe smoking less. The problem with smoking is that it has become a habit. Maybe even a comforting habit. So, be sure to give yourself lots of time thinking about it.
You won’t quit smoking unless or maybe until you make the decision so step two is deciding. Quitting smoking is not an easy decision to make. It needs a strong will power and determination. This is harder than step one but even more important.
The final step is the actual act of quitting. The most difficult of the three steps. Now, you just need to decide how you want to quit smoking. Medical assistance, therapy, you name it! Anything that you think can help you in quitting this habit will do.
You may even fail a few times but don’t let that stop you from trying. I know quitting smoking will never be easy. The famous American writer, Mark Twain has put it candidly but meaningfully. I quote, “Quitting smoking is the easiest thing in the world because I’ve done it thousands of times”. Unquote.
Remember, quitting smoking is a journey. The destination is a smoke-free life. Once again, if you are already smoking, try and break this habit immediately. Think about your family! Be inspired from them! I believe, by quitting smoking you can be a better person and your body scent will smell even better. Smoking makes you look sophisticated? What a crap! It stinks!
So, let us all SAY NO TO SMOKING! Thank you.