How A Cigarette And A Slapped Cheeks Saved My Life
The Man Who Saved My Life
I’m about to turn 25 year now, and I am proud for a lot of things in my life, one of them is :
I Never Smoked A Cigarette In My Life.
You hear a lot of life changing stories, i hope that my story will at the very least make you consider to decrease the smoking to the minimum.
I was in the seventh grade, and you know teenagers want to try everything. I had a 29 year old cousin who is suffering from cancer, i loved him like my older brother and i spent a lot of time with him, we were joking all the time about when will he get married and start a family, and i had this big plans for him, little that i know that his cancer was in the last stages. We had a family gathering one day, and i saw this man light up a cigarette and throws it right away and didn’t even put it in his mouth, and until this day i still don’t get why he did that, so teenager as i was i went behind him and picked up the cigarette and hid behind a car and wanted to try what it feels like to smoke, but the moment i put it in my mouth and took a breath i found my cousin standing in front of me, and i didn’t care much i expected he would throws it away and we have a good laugh and it’ll be over, but no, he took the cigarette, throws it away and lift me from the collar of my shirt and with a raging look in his eyes, then he did the only thing i didn’t expect him to do which is slapping me until my cheeks felt numb, and i couldn’t say a word. One of my aunts saw him slapping me so she came in a hurry and asked him why he did it, in my mind i though oh i am screwed, if he tells her she’s going to tell mom and dad and my cheeks won’t be the only thing that are numbed, but he said “we had a bet and he lost”.
After my aunt went i was still standing shocked, why did he cover up for me, meanwhile he bowed near me and put his hands in my shoulders and said the words that i will never forget my entire life:
You got the whole future ahead of you, don’t ruin it with smoking and doing what others do, i wish i had more time to live but i don’t, and i lived with that, but don’t expect me to see you getting where i am and expect me to let you be, it’s not gonna happen.
I was so stupid i didn’t understand most of what he said, so i moved his hands away and ran towards home, which is one the most things i will regret my whole life. My family and i were living in another city so until we leave i avoided him the rest of the days we were there, i didn’t hate him, i only didn’t know what to say and how to confront him. The day has come and we went back home. In the road i had only one idea on my mind, the next time i see my cousin i will apologize and bring him a gift with me, little that i know, that was the last time i will see him!. He died a couple of months later, leaving me with this regret i am going to bear my whole life.
But i decided i will never touch a cigarette at all, and after a while it wasn’t just about cigarettes, i vowed to myself that i will never destroy my body and i will appreciate every piece of it the way it’s supposed to be, as if it was his body as will.
