|
The
Truth
|
|
Introduction to the speaker
Below is a text version of Patrick Reynolds' Message to Youth.
|
|
I want to begin today with a little story. My parents were divorced when I was three, and for six long years, I didn't see my Dad. Now a boy needs his Dad to come to the football game and say, "You played well, son. I'm proud of you -- you're my boy!" He needs his Dad's hugs, encouragement, guidance and love. I didn't have that, and it was hard for me. For six years, I really missed him. When I was nine, I got the idea to write him a letter. It said, 'Dear Dad -- I want to meet you. Where are you?' He was traveling at the time, and amazingly, my little letter was forwarded seven times from city to city. By a miracle from God, it got into his hands, and he sent for me. I remember the day I first got word he wanted to meet me, and I was jumping up and down with joy. When the big day came at last, and they showed me into the room where he was, I found my Dad lying down, on his back, gasping for breath. He was dying from emphysema, caused by smoking the cigarettes that made our family wealthy. I only got to see him on five visits after that, and every time, he was increasingly sick and frail, and counting the time he had left to live. My Dad died from smoking I was 15. That's mostly why I chose to turn my back on my family's former tobacco business, and why I'm devoting my life to educating our young people about tobacco and smoking. That's why I founded Tobaccofree.Org and the Foundation for a Smokefree America.
Perhaps the most important single message I have for you today is that smoking is extremely addictive. Once you start, you may not be able to stop — ever. And the same is true for drugs and alcohol. I can't emphasize this enough — you may not ever be able to stop, if you start smoking or chewing tobacco. If you are already smoking or using dip, I urge you to see the school nurse and get help to stop. People who are the most successful in life usually get plenty of help. I'll talk more about that in a little while. If you are smoking now, or experimenting with tobacco, see the school nurse -- or talk to an adult. It's okay to talk to someone and get help. And if you haven't started yet, remember -- tobacco is extremely addicting. You'll get hooked much faster than you think. The best way to avoid getting addicted is simply to always say no to tobacco. In this powerful and motivating section of his talk, Mr. Reynolds discusses tobacco advertising. The vivid stories and facts he relates are designed to empower youth to resist the onslaught of cigarette ads and peer pressure. Using the overheads below, Patrick makes great fun of tobacco ads. He emphasizes that smoking looks very un-cool, and is no longer socially acceptable. Both middle school and high school youth enjoy this section of his talk. Humor is a key ingredient of his presentation.
We've all seen the ads for Marlboro Country, with images of beautiful country scenes, wild horses galloping, and cowboys around a fire or on horseback. Well, here's the real Marlboro Country.
Notice that we see several smokers, outside their office building in the cold, getting their fix of nicotine -- because they're addicted. They're not welcome inside the building! People just don't want to be around their smoke. Often it's not legal to smoke indoors, because second hand smoke can seriously hurt others. The fact is, today three out of four people in the USA do not smoke. Think about this: today, being a nonsmoker is the norm. I don't like the Utter Fool spoof ad so much. Why? Because we're calling somebody a fool. This is not an effective way to communicate. The listener will tune out if you call them a name. I want to stop for a moment, and talk about how we can better communicate with each other. If you disagree with someone, or if you want to say no to them, it's smart to start with an honest complement. "Mom, that dinner you made last night was great!" "Oh, it was?" Your parent or friend will open up, and will be all ready to really hear what you have to say next. Of course, your complement must be honest and from the heart. Don't use but, as it totally undoes your complement. Don't say, "Mom, that dinner you made was great, but..." Instead, use and. Then follow with I feel, and fill in the emotion you are really feeling. Well, what emotions do we have to choose from? All of us have six basic emotions -- these are the primary colors of our hearts. We've got anger, sadness, joy, love, fear and shame. And there are a whole rainbow of sub-combinations. Continue with something like, "Mom, I feel sad when I see you smoke. I don't want to lose you!" Or, " You're my best friend. I feel angry when I see you smoke. I want you to put out that cigarette now, please!" Or, "Dad, I really love all the time you spend with me -- and I feel afraid when you smoke. I need you to stay healthy, and be there for me." And so on. If you call someone a name, you lose them. But if you tell what you're feeling, starting with the words I feel, your friend or loved one will open up and hear what you have to say. The result? You'll be a far more effective communicator. And it's okay to talk about your feelings. I'll come back to that. Here's another ad that lied. Not very long ago, the tobacco company my Grandfather started, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, used a cartoon camel to promote its Camel brand. Joe Camel was a jock -- and he wore sunglasses, drove cool sports cars, played saxophone, and had plenty of girlfriends. Well, if tobacco advertising told the truth, here's what Joe Camel would really look like: (Mr. Reynolds shows this overhead.)— Art by Adbusters — Joe is lying down, sick from smoking! He's got a needle in his arm to get strong chemotherapy medicine to slow down the cancer that's killing him. He's saying, "I wish I hadn't smoked. I got a lot of kids to think smoking was cool, and I'm so sorry! I'm so very sorry. I smoked, and now I'm dying of cancer. Just look at me now! Please -- whatever you do, don't smoke!" Notice there are no friends or girlfriends around him, he's no longer an athlete, and he's bald! Sadly, the medicine he's taking made all his hair fall out. So that's what tobacco ads would look like, if they
told the truth about smoking. More About Tobacco Advertising Unfortunately, many teens are not too concerned about the risk of disease later in life. But the fact is, cigarettes cause emphysema, lung cancer and heart disease. Today in the US, smoking causes 1 of every 5 deaths. Cigarettes kill 1,200 Americans every day — that amounts to 420,000 American deaths each year, and two to three million deaths worldwide annually. Let's take a look at cigarette advertising. Would you object to being manipulated mentally? Well, tobacco ads are designed to play with your mind. In January, 1998, Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman revealed some very secret memos of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. In 1975 one executive wrote, "The Camel Brand must increase its share penetration among the 14 - 24 age group — which represent tomorrow's cigarette business." A 1986 memo noted how the cartoon camel campaign would utilize "peer acceptance/influence" to "motivate the target audience to take up cigarettes." So many teens tell me that tobacco ads have had absolutely no influence over them. I agree that tobacco ads will not change your conscious mind — but they may be getting through to your unconscious mind more than you realize. What is the unconscious mind? While your conscious mind is analytical and makes (mostly!) sensible, rational decisions, it's your unconscious mind that often throws common sense out the window. It's the creative part of our minds, and it cares little for right or wrong. It just knows what feels good or bad, regardless of the consequences. For example, an overweight person may have made a conscious decision to diet, but their unconscious mind remembers the sweet taste of ice cream. The conscious mind's will to diet is overcome by the power of the unconscious mind, and its memory of delicious ice cream. "Willpower" is literally the conscious will's power to repeatedly resist to the desires of the unconscious mind. In a famous study, the Russian scientist Pavlov rang a bell every time he fed his dog. After much repetition of this, one day he removed the food, but still rang the bell. The dog began to drool just upon hearing the bell, even without the food there. The dog had made an unconscious association between the sound of the bell and supper: the dog would salivate simply upon hearing the bell. In much the same way, the cigarette ads we see in magazines build an unconscious association between the deadly addiction of smoking and strong, positive imagery. In magazine ads, we see healthy young people playing sports which require breath, like tennis or mountain climbing. We see beautiful country scenes with campfires or wild horses galloping. We see adults teens would like to emulate -- cowboys who are rugged and manly, and attractive, independent women. We see friends together. These cigarette ads intentionally make it appear that smoking is socially acceptable. This is false. The truth is, here in the US, three out of four people don't smoke, and it's not okay to smoke around most people — not any more. Smoking is not socially acceptable. Today, being a nonsmoker is the norm. The great majority of people in the US do not smoke, and most of them would rather not be around someone who is smoking. But tobacco ads falsely suggest it's okay to smoke around friends. Here's another way tobacco ads try to manipulate our minds. Magazine ads, along with the countertop displays in convenience and grocery stores everywhere, create the impression that more people smoke than actually do smoke. The tobacco companies actually pay convenience stores as much as $40 per month for each tobacco display they place in their stores! How many days did Pavlov have to ring his bell before his dog salivated just upon hearing the bell? Every year, the tobacco industry spends $4.5 to $5 billion to advertise its deadly, addictive products. That's a lot of bell ringing! Incredibly, cigarettes were recently the second most heavily advertised product in the U.S., after cars. It's a huge lie and a manipulation on a massive scale, and it sends a powerful message to our unconscious minds. In conclusion, the sad fact is that advertising has a much stronger
effect on teens than most consciously realize. Every day, 3,000
teens become newly addicted to cigarettes. The tobacco industry knows
exactly what they are doing, and they spend billions every year to
manipulate the unconscious minds of millions of teens. Don't let them
manipulate you. Three
New Scientific Studies If you're a teen who believes advertising has no effect on you, consider this: a recent study demonstrated that advertising plays a greater role than even peer pressure in getting teens to smoke. Another recent study shows that the three most heavily advertised brands are the same three brands most chosen by teens — Camels, Marlboros and Newport. If you smoke, which brand do you usually use? Probably, you use one of these three. Finally, a CDC study showed that from 1988 to 1998, the rate of teen smoking increased by a staggering 73%. The cartoon ad campaign featuring Joe Camel was launched in 1988, and the study says that cigarette ad campaigns targeting the young, including Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man, contributed to this major upsurge in teen smoking. The study said that smoking by stars in TV and films also played a role, and I'll discuss that in more detail shortly. Photo by Visible Light /
Mickey Krakowski
Let's look at someone trying to quit smoking. For most addicted smokers, the addition is about half-mental, half-physical. This varies with each individual. The physical portion of the addiction is to nicotine. The psychological part of the addiction is to the relaxing, familiar sensation of handling the cigarette, watching its curling smoke, the deep and relaxing breathing associated with inhaling and exhaling, the odd taste, and so on. When quitting, a smoker's conscious mind says, "I will stop smoking — no problem." But the unconscious mind has been conditioned that cigarettes give pleasure, and that's all it can focus on. The unconscious mind says, 'Give me a cigarette — now!' It only recognizes what feels good, or what doesn't feel good. It demands a cigarette without regard to right or wrong, and rebels against the conscious mind's decision to not smoke. During the process of quitting, however, a new habit of being a nonsmoker
forms. The unconscious mind gradually gets used to not smoking, and
the urges to smoke die away. [See our cool Quitting Tips for more
information on how to quit smoking.] So Why Is Cigarette Advertising Legal? [For high schools:] Teens often ask me, "So how come tobacco advertising is legal, if smoking is so bad for you?" There are two reasons. First, let's discuss our Constitution's First Amendment, or Freedom of Speech Amendment. It was originally intended to give people the right to say publicly whatever they wanted to say. Until recently, judges in our court system have agreed that this law protected the tobacco companies' right to say in their ads just about whatever they wanted to. But in 1997, the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court, declared that the city of Baltimore had the right to drastically curtail tobacco advertising, on the grounds that tobacco is "an exceptional and unusual hazard for our young." This decision was reversed shortly afterwards, but it's a clear sign that times are changing. Perhaps a future court will let a similar decision stand. The justices were shown a study showing that 90% of those who become addicted to cigarettes get hooked before reaching age 19. The fact is, almost no one over the age of 19 becomes addicted to tobacco. New smokers are almost always children and teens -- and we're talking about a product as addicting as heroin or cocaine! The second reason why tobacco advertising has not been limited by Congress is mostly about money. The world is not a perfect place -- this idea is part of the initiation I'll give you later [at high schools]. The tobacco companies spend more on lobbying Congress, political advertising and campaign donations to politicians than any other industry in the nation. Big Tobacco was the No. 1 contributor in the 1996 Presidential election. Politicians mostly use these donations to run their election ads on TV, and hopefully get reelected. They insist that the money they take has no influence over the way they vote. But recent studies have shown that Congressional members who accepted donations from the tobacco industry were several times more likely to vote the way the tobacco companies wanted them to. The reality is that no corporation gives away millions of dollars without expecting something in return. An executive who did would be fired. Thanks in large part to these political donations, Congress has done nothing in the past 30 years to limit tobacco advertising. And for thirty years, Congress has done next to nothing to substantially raise the Federal cigarette tax. The U.S. still has one of the lower cigarette taxes in the world. In addition, Congress has none nothing to make it harder for youth to buy cigarettes, and nothing to limit smoking in the workplace. The biggest progress we have made against Big Tobacco did not come from Congress, which is the legislative branch of our government. It came mostly from the court system, or the judicial branch of government. In 1999 there was a $246 billion settlement of the States' lawsuits. We have also made good progress in a few State legislatures, and excellent progress at the local level -- in our city governments. Big Tobacco's settlement of the States' lawsuits resulted in an agreement to end cigarette billboards. Tobacco may still be advertised, however, in most magazines, and may be displayed on countertops. This progress -- ending cigarette billboards -- came as a result of the settlement of the lawsuits. In summary, it's far from a perfect world out there. Sadly, our politicians are too often influenced by special interest money. I believe this will change. There are many good politicians who are presently trying to reform our system of campaign finance. So just because you see tobacco ads in magazines and convenience
stores, it doesn't mean that tobacco is acceptable or safe. Be smart
— don't let these deceptive and misleading ads send a false message
to your unconscious mind.
Countertop Displays and Dip It's far too easy for youth to steal cigarettes or chewing tobacco from countertop displays. These displays conveniently face away from the cashier, where they are too easy for kids to shoplift. In addition they are right at child eye level. Many of you see them every day, and have for years. A few years ago, very few people chewed tobacco. Dip became popular largely because teens were deceived in this way into thinking it was a popular product. Here's how it happened. When the U.S. Tobacco Company began their ad campaign to re-launch their chewing tobacco products, they paid grocery and convenience stores across the nation a huge amount of money to put their spit tobacco displays on countertops everywhere. Countertop displays created a false impression among the young. Many thought, Lots of people must want these products. If the store puts them right on the countertop, they must be really popular. Most teens are unaware that the tobacco companies pay stores up to $100 per month to keep those displays of cigarettes or dip on countertops. Without those payments from Big Tobacco, countertop displays would quickly be removed. The truth is, at that time very few people, mostly old men, chewed. And tens of thousands of kids got fooled. Many eventually tried dip, became addicted and then regular customers. And US Tobacco began making big profits. This makes me angry and also sad. I believe that 'spit' tobacco as well as cigarettes should be kept under the counter, unseen. The old saying applies: out of sight, out of mind. Then only already addicted customers would think to ask for these deadly products. The U.S. Tobacco Company makes several brands of spit tobacco. The one many kids start out on is Cherry Skoal. It has the weakest nicotine bite, and is sweetened with cherry flavoring — a taste not unlike candy. And these products are often placed next to the candy in convenience stores. Many who try it become addicted, and usually
move on to another brand with more nicotine, to satisfy the powerful
new cravings. U.S. Tobacco makes several brands, with varying amounts
of nicotine. The brand with the most nicotine is Copenhagen. US Tobacco
actually had the gall to take out one ad which read, "Sooner
or later, it's Copenhagen!" A True Story about Spit Tobacco Sean Marsee had won 28 medals at track meets. He was a very popular and respected athlete at his high school. Thinking it was safe, Sean began chewing dip tobacco in his mid-teens. He became addicted, and although his mother, who was a registered nurse, begged him to quit, Sean was unable to. His mother asked him to stop repeatedly, but it was Sean who had rescued his younger sister, when she fell through the ice on the lake. He was becoming a man, and after a while, she gave up trying. One day he came home and told his mother, "Mom, my tongue hurts." He showed her a red sore the size of a half dollar on his toung, with a hard white core. "We'd better get you to the doctor," she replied. At the hospital the doctor performed some tests. A few days later, Sean was lounging around the house watching TV, when the phone rang. He heard his mother answer in her bedroom, like she always did. A few minutes later, he heard his mother's muffled sobs through her closed door. He went into her room, and softly put his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong, Mom?" "Son, you have cancer in your toung," she sobbed. They went back to the hospital, where Sean was shocked to learn he had to have most of his tongue cut out. He would never be able to talk again. He was 18 years old. "Can I still run in the track meet on Friday?" he asked the doctor. The doctor said okay. After, Sean went in for the operation to remove most of his toung. But the cancer did not go away. In fact, it
spread to his jaw and neck muscles. Two more operations would follow.
Sean had to have half of his jaw removed, along with part of his nose,
and many neck muscles on one side.
Mr. Reynolds shows these overheads
as he tells Sean Marsee's story. At age 19, Sean lay in bed, sad and disfigured, and in horrible, unspeakable pain. His best friend, who had been told Sean didn't have much longer to live, came down from Chicago to see him for the last time. On first seeing Sean, he fought back tears. Visions flashed across his mind of the great times he'd never get to have with his childhood friend. The next day, as they visited, he said, "Sean, what if we took a photo of you like this?" But Sean shook his head, glaring, and wrote emphatically, "No, no, not like this!" He was overcome with shame and embarrassment at the idea. But his friend persisted, "What if many teens could see the photo, and learn the truth about what chewing tobacco really does?" Sean reflected on this for a while. Finally he allowed this picture to be taken, with his track medals pinned to his chest. It's his gift to you. His friend got another idea. "Sean, what if, by some miracle, you could get a message to other teens? Do you have any words you'd like them to hear?" And Sean nodded — because without his tongue he could not talk — and he gestured for pen and paper. His hands trembled and his eyes welled as he began to write, perhaps from the pain he was in. He struggled to write these words, as his message to you: "Don't dip snuff." And not too long after that, Sean died. The story of Sean Marsee is available in greater
detail through any local branch of the American Cancer Society. Ask
for their free reprint of the Readers Digest article about him, and
also their brochure on chewing tobacco. Our thanks to the American
Cancer Society and the Marsee family for allowing us to reproduce
these photos. Review Chewing tobacco was made to look like a popular product when the U.S. Tobacco Company paid convenience stores to place their addictive products on countertops. Thousands of teens across the country assume that chewing tobacco must be really popular. Eventually many teens try it, and soon became addicted. The best website we know of on chewing tobacco
is www.patchproject.org
-- check it out. It includes terrific quitting tips and tons of photos
of the horrendous mouth cancer and other disease caused by chewing
tobacco. Remember, six out of every ten U.S. smokers started smoking before age 14. Nine of every ten smokers became addicted before reaching age 19. In other words, almost no one starts smoking after 19.
Nearly all of the tobacco industry's new customers are teens. So you
— the young — are the only new recruits the tobacco companies
can get. Be smart, and don't be fooled. Smoking in Movies and
TV In the 1990's, there was a big upsurge in the amount of smoking in movies and TV. Characters in 90's movies were much more likely to smoke than a person in real life. In this way, movies mislead many teens into thinking that smoking was more popular than it really was. Even worse, many stars made smoking look cool to young people. I don't agree with the censoring the movies. Instead, let's give a dose of healthy shame to our movie and TV stars who make smoking look cool. John Travolta has smoked in every film he made in the 1990's. Julia Roberts smoked in several of her films. So did Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Gwenneth Paltrow, and many others. Adding a tobacco rating to TV shows might cause stars and producers to think twice, because TV producers know that sponsors might be less willing to place commercials on such shows. If a film got a low enough tobacco rating, theaters could be required to run an anti-smoking trailer before the film. Anti-smoking trailers ran in Florida movie theaters very effectively. Their overall State tobacco education program, the Tobacco Pilot Program in Tallahassee, resulted in a 50% reduction in Florida middle school smoking! The $70 million per year program there was financed by the settlement of their lawsuit against the tobacco companies.
In Superman II, woman reporter Lois Lane, who is a nonsmoker in the comics, chain-smoked Marlboros, and the Marlboro brand name appeared some 40 times in the film. Tobacco giant Phillip Morris paid a mere $40,000 to the producers for this cunning promotion. Of course, Lois Lane is a role model for young girls. Sylvester Stallone took a $500,000 payment from one tobacco company to smoke their brand in three of his films. Phillip Morris even placed its products in, astoundingly, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Muppet Movie. Hollywood swears that it has stopped placing cigarette brands in films — but I know of one instance in which a tobacco company helped finance a film, and then put its products prominently in it. U.S. Tobacco, which makes most of the chewing tobacco, had a movie production division which made a movie, Pure Country, in which handsome, good-old-boy cowboys chew. Fortunately, it bombed. There have been more recent reports of cigar
companies paying to promote cigars in films. Movie stars have done
a great deal to help popularize cigars, such as Will Smith and Jeff
Goldblum in Independence Day. Arnold Schwartzenegger, Bruce
Willis, Demi Moore, and Pierce Brosnan, all appeared on the cover
of Cigar Aficionado magazine. These stars' use of cigars makes
a powerful statement which is not lost on teens as they browse through
the nation's magazine racks. Cigars cause mouth and throat cancer,
as well as poisoning the air with extra-strong second hand smoke. On How To Study [For middle schools:] I'm going to ask you a question in a moment. But first, I want you to keep your eyes me, stay very quiet and not talk to your neighbor. You guys are being so great today! That's how we learn, we keep our eyes on the teacher, don't talk to friends, and listen. When we listen to the teacher, we learn. [For high schools and middle schools:] When we don't understand something the teacher says, the most successful students raise their hands and ask questions. People who win in life get help. For example, in business, a successful businessperson gets a lawyer to write the contracts, and advertising agency to create the ads, a marketing executive to do the marketing, a doctor when they're sick — people who win get help, and lots of it! Even the greatest novelists have editors. So don't be afraid to get help. Ask your teachers and parents questions — it's good to ask, and it's okay to ask. Real men do ask for directions! By the way, how do we study? It's called Butt Power — you keep your butt in the chair and your nose in the book. Excellence takes just a little extra effort and focus. Highlighting is good, and if you have time, go back and read what you highlighted again. And always ask questions when you don't understand. We hear a good deal lately about the excessive homework
being assigned today. If enough families speak up, schools will respond,
and we will see change. So let your feelings be known about that.
It is far too easy for children to steal cigarettes. All the tobacco companies have to do is to sit back and wait until you get addicted. If you do, your cigarette addiction will cost you over $1000 per year to maintain — and it's possible you might not ever be able to stop. So here's my question. Let's see a show of hands: How many of you know of a friend who has stolen cigarettes ? [In most middle and high schools, sadly, from 1/4 to 1/2 of the hands go up.] That makes me feel sad. Let's have a talk about ethics. I'm going to give you three good reasons to be honest. First, there's our relationship with our community. It really hurts our community when we are dishonest — and that means it hurts the people around us. It hurts our parents, our friends, and our neighbors. And we hurt ourselves, too. The fact is, we are all models of ethical leadership for each other. If you steal, you lead your friends in a dishonest direction. On the other hand, when we do the right thing, we lead our friends in a good and honest direction. You influence your friends positively when you refuse to use cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol. And your example really does influence your friends. If you say yes to these things, you're hurting yourself and your friends. Second, there's our feelings about ourselves. One of the best reasons I know to be honest is that it just plain feels good. And it feels pretty bad if we do something dishonest. For example, it's so painful to hide and tell a lie, or to keep a deep, dark secret when we have done something wrong. Guilt and shame are very uncomfortable, and therefore very costly, emotions. Telling the truth, and being honest, sets us free. It's really very simple: it just plain feels
good to be honest. On Secrets [For middle schools:] Mostly
I don't like secrets — the secrets of your best friends your
own age are okay. Again -- don't be afraid to talk to your parents
about anything. If you can't bring yourself to talk to your
parents, then talk to a trusted teacher, or to the school counselor.
That's what they're there for, and it's 100% okay and good to talk
to them. Don't isolate and hold back. Remember, those who succeed
best usually get help, speak up and ask questions. What Can I Do If My Parents Smoke? I get asked this a lot, and my answer might surprise you. Don't be a NAG about their smoking habit! But you can make noise about their smoking in the house or near you, because their second hand smoke hurts you. But don't nag them to quit. There's a big difference! I advocate asking your loved ones to quit smoking no more than three times a year. Be brief, and use very loving tones. Try surrounding your request with honest complements, and they will be more open to hearing you. If you speak up more than three times per year, you're a yucky, obnoxious NAG! I ask nonsmokers to honor their smoking loved ones, and treat them like adults. That's actually the best way to get them to quit. Don't be a nag about others' addictions, and let them to decide to quit by themselves, when they are ready. You do, however, get to be a pest about second
hand smoke, which hurts you — but not about your parent's addiction.
If you nag loved ones to quit smoking, they'll often be so angry that
they'll smoke out of anger, and you'll actually be helping to keep
them addicted. So don't be a nag! Examples of how to
ask "I love being your friend, and I value our friendship. And I feel angry when you smoke. I don't want to lose you. I want us to both live a very long time." "Hey, Dad, thanks for taking me to the game last Saturday. I had a great time with you. And you know, I get afraid when I see you smoking. I need you to live a long time. I love you, Dad. " In summary, don't be a nag about
anyone's addiction to smoking. Remember, you only get to ask parents
to quit three times a year. But you do get to be a pest about second
hand smoke, because that hurts you.
I personally know of a 17 year old girl in Kansas who's dying now from lung cancer, caused by smoking. A young man died at 19 from chewing tobacco. You'll never get AIDS? Just ask a teen who is HIV-positive, and who may have their life cut short by that disease. You won't get addicted? Ask a teen drug addict or a teen alcoholic. This is very, very sad. The tragic fact is every day, 3,000 more teens become
addicted to cigarettes — and one in three of them
will later die of smoking.
From 1988 -- the year Joe Camel was introduced -- until 1998, we had a huge and mysterious upsurge in the amount of teen smoking. There was a 73% increase! This really makes me sad, and it makes me angry, too. Since 1998, smoking has begun to trend downward again among middle and high school students, possibly as a result of the increased spending on anti-smoking education campaigns in many states. But what explains the huge increase in teen smoking during the 1990's? Why was there also a rise in drug and alcohol use among many teens? My colleagues in the anti-smoking community have pointed to the causes as being the cigarette ad campaigns which targeted youth, such as Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man. They also point to the recent large increase of smoking in films, and a teen backlash against anti-smoking campaigns. But there is one factor which has gone unexamined. I believe a very significant reason for the 1990's rise in teen smoking is this -- many teens today don't believe in their future with the same degree of optimism of yesterday's teens. Large numbers of today's youth feel they face a bleak future. When Coca-Cola executives conducted market research for their ad campaign for OK soda in the early '90's, they discovered that today's teens suffer from "an acute sense of diminished expectations." They found that many were pessimistic about their future job prospects. I believe this has helped start a disturbing trend. It's the common attitude, 'Let's party now! Who cares if I smoke / drink / try drugs or other high risk behaviors? The future is looking pretty bad. I'm angry about it — the adults really screwed things up! I want to have some fun while I can.' I'm not talking about teens from the most affluent 20% of the nation,
although many of those teens also have doubts about the future. The
problem is more pronounced among average families. And for many at
the lower end, that bleak future has already arrived. Outline for a Solution
Conclusion: You'll need your health in
the good times ahead, so avoid tobacco and other high risk behaviors. Let's discuss this in more detail. 1. Talk
about it. How do you feel about your future? Are you optimistic — or are you more of a pessimist? Does your future look reasonably bright, or pretty dim to you? If your future were decidedly dim, and the adults really did mess things up, you'd be 100% right to be angry. But even if that were true, taking your anger out on yourself hurts mainly you. For example, some teens take out their anger by smoking, drinking, using drugs, or taking other extreme risks. If you do this, yes, you hurt your parents, but the person you most hurt is yourself. These behaviors can hurt you pretty seriously, and they might even hurt you for life, and could destroy your whole future. My advice is that if you feel some anger, go ahead and get it out using your mouth — "I'm ANGRY about the..." Say this as LOUD as you like to your parents, to your friends, or perhaps to the school counselor (a smart move). Remember, those who get help and ask adults questions tend to be more successful. Whatever you do, don't make the error of hurting yourself with your own anger — by smoking, drinking, using drugs, or risking other unsafe behaviors. It's by talking about our feelings, as soon as possible after they happen, that we heal. When we instead numb out and pretend everything's fine, our anger, sadness and hurt just build up inside. Then we forget why we were angry or sad in the first place — and we take it out on ourselves, hurting ourselves with tobacco, alcohol, or worse. So talk about your feelings — to family, to friends, to a trusted
teacher -- especially your parents or the school counselor. Find someone
you feel completely safe with and talk about what's on your
mind. That's the best way to fix the problem. Talk about what makes
you angry, sad or afraid. Talk to someone, and it will help you feel
much, much better. 2.Think positive. While it's good to let your negative feelings out and talk to others about them, it's also smart to try to keep a generally positive outlook. Where is it written in stone that your future will be dark? Negative thoughts like those on the left below will pull you down. They will hinder your progress toward your goals. On the other hand, positive thoughts like those on the right will help to propel you forward in life. Positive thoughts will help you reach your goals and help your dreams come true.
It's important to talk to adults about your negative
feelings, but don't get too carried away with them. Most
of the time, try to think positive. Notice how you start
to succeed more. What if there are leaner times ahead? What if tough times are already here for your family? Are you angry about it? Does that mean you just give up and throw your whole future away on tobacco, drugs, alcohol or take other irresponsible risks? Life's painful times give us a gift: they increase our soulfulness, and they build our spirituality. Difficult times also bring us closer to our loved ones. Our struggles help to strengthen our character, and help us find out who we are. And by talking about our feelings of sadness and/or anger, we heal our wounds and become stronger. Yep, real men do talk about their feelings. They are
actually more powerful, masculine and successful than
those who close off from others and isolate. 3. Reevaluate: What is real wealth? What is real wealth, anyway? TV sends us strong and repeated messages that to be "wealthy" we must buy more products, and spend more money. Our whole present economic system is based on the yearly growth of the economy. Our culture emphatically tells us that consuming more every year is both necessary and good for the world. Our shopping malls are shrines to buying more and still more things which we don't really need. This is the wrong direction for us to continue in. We must find the courage to change, and leaders who will help us change. The world has a limited amount of renewable natural resources, and we must try to consume less, not more, in the future. The truth is, as the less industrialized Third World nations industrialize, and as their citizens begin to consume as much energy as we do, that our planet simply cannot sustain this rate of depletion of the earth's natural resources. The haves and have-nots of the world's peoples will compete for the remaining resources. I am optimistic and hopeful, however, that this problem will be solved, as governments grow more honest and more cooperative with one another. Television promotes a very false idea of wealth. Its commercials suggest that owning material things will bring us happiness and fulfillment. Shampoo ads cunningly imply that their brand of shampoo will actually make us better looking. These TV ads slyly, and falsely, suggest that owning this article of clothing, or that kind of car, will actually make us more successful with the opposite sex. All this is very far from reality. The truth is that our 'inner lights,' or personalities, are what most attract the opposite sex. TV, however, implies that without buying these material things, we can't be happy, sexy or fulfilled — and this is simply a lie. Cigarette ads are one of many examples. The material things advertised everywhere in our culture are just that — only things! We need to turn away from our intense focus on the material. The more we get, the more we want. And the more we want, the more frustrated and unhappy we become. Our goals continually recede further and further beyond our reach. I believe the most profound and deepest form of wealth is simply knowing this: I already have enough. In one sense, real wealth means to be free of desire — or free of wanting more than we now have. When we know we have enough, we are truly wealthy — and far happier, too. The book Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin develops this idea. It makes a strong and moving case for simplifying our lives, and has influenced a great many people in the US. For many people, real wealth is about family, and the love we get at home. For some it's about fun times shared with good friends. For others it's about joy of a life spent together with a special someone. For many it's about children. Real riches are also found in good health, one's positive memories of a life well lived, or the simplicity of enjoying a beautiful winter or summer day. True wealth comes, too, from our good feelings about ourselves — our pride in our inner selves. Feeling good when you are alone is also a sign of wealth. Real wealth can also be about your connection to God, or to your own higher power — however you may think of that. In conclusion, don't fall victim to all the materialistic messages coming from television and the advertising industry -- and remember what real wealth is. Our society is now changing rapidly. What if in the future we come across a few lean months — or even years? What if the lean times are already here for you? Personally, I have a strong conviction and faith that any tough times will pass, and the world will once again become a very bright and positive place. I want to share my vision with you, and the strong feeling I carry deep inside. I believe that something great and wonderful is coming our way, and that a golden age will follow any possible tough times, as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow. Call it mystical, call it irrational, but you can't take that feeling away from me, or convince me otherwise. It's mine! I'm sharing it with you now, in hopes that it might plant the seed for you to develop the same inner conviction -- this faith -- I have. Where did I get this strong faith in the future? I listened to, and saw, what many others believed and felt. For example, millions of Jewish people have long believed that a Messiah will one day come to save mankind. Prophets in the Christian Bible predicted that, right when times on Earth were darkest, Christ would come back again and save the world. Afterward, these prophets said, the earth would enjoy 1,000 years of peace and harmony — green things would again multiply on the planet, and fish would again be plentiful in the oceans. They predicted that the earth will be transformed into a wonderful place, and there would be a golden age. Whatever you believe, I hope you will open your mind to the basic idea here — that that things will get eventually better no matter what, and all will be okay in the future. Thinking positive is also a form of faith — and it really works. Develop your ability to think positive thoughts, and very shortly you will see concrete results. The Positive - Negative thoughts table above is a good example of how to think positive. Scroll back and reread it. Write out you own list of positive thoughts. I have faith that the future is looking great, no
matter what. Share my vision, and stop holding yourself
back by worrying about the future. Think positive
thoughts as much possible. Practice this, and develop
your faith that all will be well. Think positive, and you
will be more successful in life, and enjoy more
abundance. Conclusion: Hold on
to your health -- Above all, remember this -- you'll need your health in the wondrous years ahead. So avoid tobacco and other high-risk behaviors. Make responsible choices now. Lead your friends in a good direction, by not smoking. Make the smart choice. Don't risk becoming addicted to cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. Consider the amazing future that's coming your way. You'll need your
body to be in excellent health, to enjoy the long and amazing life
you have ahead of you in the 21st century! A Fork in the Road I came to a big fork in the road in my life — with one road leading the right way and another leading the wrong way. There were signs — the signs pointing in the wrong direction said, 'Easy Way This Direction,' 'Familiar Territory,' "Smooth Road Ahead,' 'For Comfort, Right This Way'. The signs pointing in the right direction said, 'Danger Ahead,' 'Unfamiliar Territory,' 'Steep Uphill Climb This Way,' and 'Rocky Road Ahead.' Each of you will come to many such forks in your roads
ahead. And when you do, think twice before taking the
easy way. Choose the road you know is right!" A Pledge to Stay Tobacco
and Drug Free
Those of you who would like to join me in taking a pledge — a promise to yourself — to stay tobacco free and drug free for life, please stand now, and repeat after me.
Congratulations! You may sit down now. All of you are citizens of the 21st Century -- and in the 21st Century, smoking will be no more. Thank you very much for listening! I'd like to open up now to some Q & A, so those of you who have
questions or would like to make a statement, I invite you to do so
now. Q & A Session
It is Mr. Reynolds' hope that young people will print out the message
above, show it to their teachers, friends and family, and take time
to discuss it together with them. He also hopeful that teachers will
share some the ideas in the talk above with their students. A new video of this
talk is now available: The Truth About Tobacco Thank you for caring about the problem of tobacco use!
|
The
Addiction
On Ethics 
