By Jaryn Spalding
IV Leader staff
To some of the student body of IVCC, making it a smoking
free environment in most areas of the building was a bad idea. But going through
a bad experience due to smoking can really make a person think twice about
smoking. Whether it was you, or someone close to you, it can help someone think
again about the decision and it can help save your life.
In my whole 18 years of living, I never thought about
touching or smoking a cigarette. My father smoked for about 30 years and the
habit of smoking was always around the household. When I was 5, I witnessed my
father have a massive heart attack. He had to have open heart surgery due to the
damage in his lungs from smoking. After going through that experience and almost
losing his life, he soon changed his ways and took smoking out of his life.
A lot of people believe that smoking doesn’t do any harm and
do it anyway, even when they are told not to. People do it due to pressure,
trying to be cool and just because they think smoking is cool.
After 13 years of no smoking, the worst has happened to my
dad. He has been diagnosed with emphysema, a disease that makes it hard to
breathe and causes stress to your heart and lungs. The doctor told my father
that this was caused by his past experiences with smoking and he will remain
this way for the rest of his life. He now has to sleep with a mask over his face
and take medication daily to stop the pressure in his chest.
I may not know a lot of the students that smoke at IVCC, but
making the campus tobacco free really is the best thing for them. Students
should really start opening up their eyes and start witnessing the side effects
from smoking and what damages it can cause.
I haven’t touched or smoked a cigarette in my life, but I
know what it can do to you just by seeing my father every day and what he has to
go through. People who do choose to smoke aren’t wrong by doing it and it
doesn’t make them any less of a person. But no smoking in or around certain
areas of the school, is a good idea and it is helping smokers.
It is helping them smoke less and maybe one day give it up.
Some don’t do that and maybe one day they will see the damages it can cause and
give up before they damage themselves. This doesn’t happen all the time when
someone smokes, but it does happen rarely and I have already witnessed a side
effect.
Hopefully, the rule will help students and help them
understand that life can be good without the use of tobacco or cigarettes.