Why do people smoke? Why do I smoke? I ask myself this question every day of my life. I started smoking cigarettes when I was fourteen years old. I guess I was still young and naive. I don't know if stupidity is really a valid excuse, knowing even then, the dangers of the habit. I suppose it was because I never really thought that I, of all people, would become addicted. Well here I am four years later and smoking a pack and a half a day.
             The worst part about it is that I'm ashamed of my habit more than half the time. I pheen for a cigarette it seems, at every family function. I've come up with excuse after excuse to go outside, trying to hide my embarrassing habit. You'd think if I'm so ashamed of smoking, then why do I continue to smoke? Well, let me tell you addiction is a powerful thing. Much more powerful than I thought it would be back when I was fourteen. Every night before I go to bed I tell myself, "This is going to be my last cigarette." But how is it humanly possible for me to quit when I'm constantly surrounded by smokers? I can't even watch a movie with someone smoking in it and not crave a cigarette. More than half my family smokes, almost everyone at my job smokes and the majority of my friends smoke. I feel like in order to quit I'd have to cut myself off from the world.
             Smoking is one of the most unattractive habits. I hate the fact that all of my clothes reek of cigarette smoke. I can't even borrow a sweater from my brother without him complaining about the smell. My hands still smell of smoke even after I've washed them and by the end of the day my hair smells like an ash tray. I smoke so much that I get bronchitis at least once a month. I have gotten it so often that it seems like it never really goes away. For the first two years I smoked Newports that is until the day I started coughing up blood. I'm only eight
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