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Page Last Updated: May 7, 2004 5:33 AM

This is day 5. No intro, really.
I'm considering a letter to the tobacco companies. What could I say?
How's this for an open letter? Could someone do better? Undoubtedly. Would it work.?
Dear Sir or Madam,
I had considered writing and calling you and your company the most foul and obnoxious things I could think of. Fortunately (for all of us), I will NOT do that. <G>.
Knowing that tobacco kills, why do you persist in selling it? As a smoker for many years, I know that I would have kept buying it until it killed me. And you would let me? Why?
For years, I have advised others to not smoke, even as I took a drag off a cigarette. Why? I knew it was foul and obnoxious, and that it would eventually kill me. It still may. But I don't want others to go through that.
With that in mind, why not put yourselves out of business? I know that you are diversified enough that bankrupting the tobacco subsidiaries would not significantly affect, for instance, RJR-Nabisco. Funny how a plan to boycott tobacco companies (on my part) quickly brought about the realization that I cannot. Many fingers, many pies.
Further, you could help all the smokers out there quit. How much does it cost to quit smoking? How much have you lost to the lawsuits? How much will you lose? Perhaps a bit of good publicity would show that the company of today is more humane than the company that was.
Bankrupt yourselves by helping the people your companies have harmed in the past.
As for the tobacco farmers, let's not abandon them. If the farmer is a corporate farm, I have little sympathy. Corporate farms should be well enough cushioned to withstand a change in crops. The family farmers, though, will need your help. A stake crop of soy or corn would probably work well. If the soil is unsuited, find something that will work. Get them off the bandwagon, as well.
Please, help end this.
Sincerely,
Jim Lang
Okay, finally, a last list. Time to get off this bandwagon. My thanks, and love, to those that have helped, those that have watched, and those that need it.
  • My list is so full I'm squeezing reasons in the margin.
  • No Smoking signs all over the place.
  • Have I mentioned:
    coffin nails
    cancer sticks
    death rails
    clock ticks
  • Have I mentioned the sense of smell?
  • Have I mentioned the sense of taste?
  • What else have I been missing all these years?
  • How much time have I wasted stepping out for a smoke?
  • My favorite sweat shirt has a hole in it. Guess where it came from?
  • This may help someone else quit.
  • I enjoy life to much to kill myself.
  • Save a tree! cigarettes are wrapped in paper.
  • I want to run.
  • I have all this energy I never knew I was missing.
  • I can see, smell, taste.
  • Have I mentioned cancer?
  • The kids.
  • So many reasons.
  • tears.
  • funerals.
  • lost loved ones.
  • smiles.
  • weddings.
  • Those that survive.
  • Live, love, live.
  • AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
  • carpe diem!
Though there are undoubtedly many more reasons, those are the last I will list. I have surpassed the 100 hour mark, and am into day 5. I can call myself a success for now. A week from now, I will go ahead and update this page.

Quitting is not easy. I cannot believe how easy it seems now, but how hard it was to do. I will not tell anyone to quit. I will not go out and tell anyone that `I quit, you can too.' I can only do what someone did for me. Smile. Offer only as much help as is asked of me.

Thank-you. And if this helps anyone, drop Jim Lang a line.

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