YOLO Tip #1: Take a Drag

"Vaping has become an epidemic. It has lured and fooled many into thinking that it was anything but a silent killer."

This is the line that stuck with me the most from Nicole Mallare's article, “The Smokeless Epidemic.” It summarized the entirety of the horrifying message the article had to convey about where vaping stands in the world today as a “healthier” substitute for smoking.

The constant gruesome photo of a beaten up lung that is always present on cigarette boxes, you would think, would stick out enough to remind everyone that the effects are anything but fictitious, but it seems as though people are more eager on satisfying their fixes than maintaining their health. Vaping, unlike traditional cigarettes, had a more alluring tone to it that made it sound as though it had less misfortunes to give than its counterpart.

I do not have very extensive knowledge on the topic of smoking (or vaping for that matter) as it never concerned me all too much. At a very early stage of my childhood, I was already warned about the dangers that lay in these gateway drugs and so it sounded best to just steer-clear of anything that had to do with it.

School made up for my lack of knowledge. The basics of it were taught in the classroom, of course, but experience-wise, I should be happy to say, I have nothing to show for. Indirectly, however, I have heard what some people said that could agree with one of the points that Mallare said in her article, which would be that even youths were enraptured by vaping. It seems common to hear that someone puffed it once for the reason that they could know what it felt like, and that just never really sat well with me.

In my opinion, you should be cherishing your health while it's still at its best. It seemed foolish to want to ruin that just for the fun of it, but maybe it had to do with consciousness as well. Having no experience with risk could make you look “stiff,” but really I think it's just a matter of caution. Maybe it would be better to just leave both parties to their own devices as it is their business but at the same time, one can't help but try to intervene.

In her article, Mallare has stated many reasons as to why people should know better than to mess with vaping, most of which had to do with the chemical content because sometimes others won't believe until straight facts are presented. Reading them just strengthened my disapproval towards smoking.

Like I mentioned earlier, it might be better to just overlook it and let them do what they want, but if even some governments are caring about the citizens' risk in health deterioration then maybe something must be done about it. It's really not that people aren't allowed to enjoy their lives to the fullest, but just how much of it left will they be living when they choose this way to live it?