Smoking and its effect on society Essay Example for Free

Smoking and its effect on society Essay Many people believe that they are in control of their own lives. They believe that their lives are based upon choices they make as individuals. For me on the other hand it is different. I have given my choice away. Throughout my entire life I have been waiting to attain a feeling of independence and a sense of power over my decisions. However, over the past couple years I have succeeded this power, this choice to an addiction that impacts individuals and families all over the world. In high school I was a three sport athlete whom had the opportunity to play at the college level in both soccer and basketball. But like I previously stated I gave my choice away when I began the treacherous addictive habit of smoking cigarettes. When I wake up every day I make a list of things I need to get done that day, I never write down smoke a cigarette but in the back of my mind there is always a plan for smoking a â€Å"bogie†. Imagine waking up every morning and needing a drink of anything you can get your hands on just so you can breathe. This is what I deal with on a daily basis. I am constantly thirsty, out of breathe, and congested. My day is run by when to smoke one. I have a cigarette when I wake up, drink coffee/red bull, after a meal, on the drive to class, on the drive home from class, while I’m doing homework, after sex, when I get bored, and before bed. I smoke a little more than ten cigarettes a day, so let’s do the math for how much I spend in a year for cigarettes. If we round it to half a pack a day, that means I smoke a pack of cigarettes in 2 days. If there are 365 in a year, that’s 182. 5 packs I smoke a year. In today’s economy cigarettes in New York go for $10 a pack, that’s the cheapest you can buy a single pack of Newport’s, which are my cigarette of choice. So if you multiply 182. 5 times 10, that’s $1825 a year I spend on cigarettes. To put this number in perspective for you, the tuition costs here at Clinton Community College for a full year is 3,960. So for one semester it’s $1,980. Essentially this means that if I wasn’t addicted to nicotine I could just about pay for a whole semester of college each year rather than buy 182. 5 packs of cigarettes. For now a pack every two days isn’t a death sentence, but if it’s one thing that is true about addictive habits it is that they only get worse. On this pace within years I could be gradually progressing my addiction to the point where I smoke a pack, maybe even two a day. At this point I struggle sometimes to even find the cash to get a pack, so I can only imagine the financial hardships that await me if my disease progresses. My finances aren’t the only part of my life that is impacted by my nicotine addiction, my health has also suffered an extreme amount. Throughout my whole life I have been the kid yelling one more; one more throw, one more kick, one more shot. Even though I have always dealt with a mild case of asthma, sensational has been the only word to describe my athletic performance between the lines on a field or court. My senior year in high school I ran a 5:40 mile, today I would be lucky to run for 5 straight minutes let alone almost complete a mile during it. Coming out of high school I was recruited by the Plattsburgh Men’s soccer coach to play center half back, which if you know anything about soccer is basically the position which requires the best athlete with the best conditioning on the entire team. In the spring of 2009 I tried my first cigarette. At first I hated it, made me cough, feel sick, and smelt horrible. But then I kept smoking them, soon I began to crave the high of smoking one. Whether it was morning, noon, or night when I wanted one I had to have it. Eventually the summer came and since I was recruited by SUNY Plattsburgh I was required to get myself in to tip top shape before I went up there for preseason. Instead I fed into my addiction and smoking cigarettes led to less energy, which led to partying more than I ever had my entire life. This new phase of my life where every other night there was a graduation party just furthered my habits. It was a phase that to this day I still believe opened doors I was never able to close. By the time preseason had come around I was in the worst shape id ever been in. There were certain expectations I was supposed to meet and I couldn’t have been further from that point. Instead of being a freshmen stud starting on a college soccer team, I became a reserve who could not even go on away trips with the team. My addiction of smoking not only took a toll on my health that year, but also my life. I had failed to meet one of the goals I had worked so hard for my entire life. At this point I came to a realization that cigarettes were my kryptonite, they made me weak and were slowly but surely killing me. A person who hasn’t dealt with addiction will say why don’t you just stop, it’s a choice just don’t do it. What these people don’t understand is that I not only don’t have a choice but I am not one bit in control of anything, nicotine owns me, runs me and fuels me. I am one of many Americans either directly or indirectly effected by smoking. Our society has been very progressive in encouraging people to refrain from smoking. The biggest weapon used is just flat out information. Just reading over these facts makes me want to throw my pack in the toilet as we speak. There are more than 4,800 chemicals in cigarette smoke, and 69 of them are known to cause cancer (Kenny, 2012). Also 90% off lung cancer deaths and 80-90% of emphysema and chronic bronchitis deaths are due to smoking (American Lung Association, 2014). Smoking decreases the life of the average male by 13 years (American Lung Association, 2014). The average male in the U. S. is expected to live until 77. By smoking my entire life I am decreasing my life expectancy from 77 years to 63 years, scary to think about. A scary fact to hear is about second hand smoke. Smoking at home, in your backyard, or alone in your car is one thing because it is mainly only effecting yourself. Smoking in public however is a whole separate issue. In one year there are approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers annually due to second hand smoke (Facts about Smoking and Tobacco Use, 2014). Those are people who die because of cigarette smoke and they aren’t even the ones smoking them, pretty cruel way to die. Smoking has greatly affected our society since the appearance of these statistics. Work places, public parks, and many other places have all out lawed smoking there, and if they haven’t outlawed it they have designated smoking areas away from the majority of people. Over the past 50 years our society has changed its perception of smoking. Years back the social structure of the world made it out to be a cool thing to do. If you didn’t smoke you were an outcaste, you would almost be looked down on. Back then it was a common thing to smoke in people’s homes, in movie theaters, even on planes and in restaurants. I can remember when I was a kid my family would go out to eat and we would have to say non-smoking section so we wouldn’t choke on our food while eating because of all the smoke. They used to promote smoking by having celebrities be their icons of the product to draw attention of the fans, or used mascots like a cowboy to signify manliness and strength, and some companies even stooped so low as to use animals as their mascots in order to make smoking friendlier towards children. Society truly does dictate what is considered a norm and what is considered to be irregular or strange. Today all of those things are illegal because a majority of the people believe those methods to be dishonorable and misguiding. The social structure of our society is constantly changing and maybe one day society as a whole will realize how harmful smoking is to the individual as well as the group and outlaw it completely. In this paper I have talked about my addiction to nicotine because it is a problem I deal with on a daily basis. This addiction of mine has effected many areas of my life including work, relationships, health, school, even self-esteem. Through writing this paper I have realized what a financial toll this habit has already taken on my wallet, thousands of dollars have been stolen from me by my addiction. In addition and more importantly, this addiction has already possibly taken years off of my life which is an eye opener that one cannot turn their back on. In conclusion smoking cigarettes has not only impacted my life, but is a nasty habit that effects the lives of individuals and families all over the world.

Walt Whitman’s Children of Adam :: Walt Whitman Children Adam Essays

Walt Whitman’s "Children of Adam" Walt Whitman will forever live in the minds of individuals as one of America’s greatest poets. People in America and all over the world continue to read and treasure his poetry. He was an original thinker, contributing new modern styles to poetry. He was unafraid of controversy and uninhibited by what others may think of him. He created his own path in poetry, as he describes himself in an anonymous review of his poetry: "But there exists no book or fragment of a book which can have given the hint to them" (Whitman). His poetry was not inspired or affected by those who wrote before him; according to him, his poetry came entirely from "beautiful blood and a beautiful brain" (Whitman). His emphasis on originality, paradoxically, displays how Emerson, a fellow nonconformist, influenced him by stressing the importance of originality and the ability to think without being aided by other people’s words of wisdom. However, while Emerson influenced Whitman, Whitman also affecte d Emerson’s thoughts, as the two were friends who respected each other’s minds. Another member of this group of nonconformist friends is Thoreau, a fellow transcendentalist (Baym 2078). Walt Whitman was born May 31, 1819 on Long Island. As a child he loved to read Sir Walter Scott (Baym 2076). As an adult he took a major interest in the Democratic party, and "began a political career by speaking at Democratic rallies" (2077). However, he is not remembered for his political action; Americans remember Whitman for his amazing poetry. He was one of the first American poets to write his poetry "without rhyme, in rolling, rhapsodic, metrical, or semi-metrical prose-verse of very irregular lengths" (Rossetti), as one of his contemporary critics noted. This new style was not the only way Whitman broke from the way the traditional poets wrote. As Rossetti described, "He not unfrequently alludes to gross things and in gross words—the clearest, the bluntest, and nearly the least civilly repeatable words which can come uppermost to the lips." Whitman’s refusal to shy away from taboo subjects disgusted and offended many of the people of his day, but Whitman possess ed "determination not to yield to censorship or to apologize for his earlier poems" (Baym 2079). One poem that Whitman penned without being concerned with offending people is "Children of Adam." "Children of Adam" is a languid, sensual poem that is overtly sexual. As Whitman says in his poem, he is "singing the phallus,/singing the song of procreation.

Chemistry Experiment: Bubble Blowing

Bubble quality Is most positively affected by the mixture of sugar and dish detergent due to the sticky consistency of sugar when emerged in liquid. Procedure: First of all, three cups were labeled according to their solution.Then, a teaspoon of dish soap and two-thirds of a cup of water was added and mixed to make cup#l . Next, a half teaspoon of table sugar was added to the same control solution and was named cup #2, as well as half a teaspoon of table salt to cup #3. After that, a straw was used to blow bubbles, by being dipped into each solution separately and blown through. Finally, data was recorded.Control Sugar salt Appearance of Solution Colorless – More translucent than control – Cloudy Bubble Size – Generally small; occasionally medium – Consistently medium-sized; bigger than control – Medium to large Ease of Bubble Blowing – Easy to blow – Must be gentle – Moderately easy Some strength and speed needed – Diffi cult – Must be gentle and slow *Relative Time Before Bubbles Popped – 5-10 seconds 15-20 seconds – 10-15 seconds * Time started when bubble left straw and popped, under any circumstances, such as touching objects.Analysis: The effects of adding table salt and sugar are positive, In comparison to the control. Both of the added ingredients made the overall bubble quality stronger. The refusing to pop for about 15-20 seconds. This is most likely because when sugar dissolves, it becomes sticky; therefore, it would make a tackier bond with the dish soap than the control. On the other hand, although very slow and gentle blows were deed to produce adequate bubbles with the salt solution, it was much stronger than the control; its relative time before the bubbles popped was about 10-15 seconds, whilst the control only lasted around 5-10 seconds.Hence, if one were to pick out the strongest solution, the table sugar mixture would be the best. Conclusion: The previous hypo thesis that, bubble quality improves with the addition of sugar, has been proven true. To improve this experiment, an increase in amount of the table salt and sugar should be made. This will create a more drastic and clear difference. Also, a bigger area of space would allow the bubbles to freely move and give more accurate times on their survival.Another hypothesis regarding bubble making is that adding both, salt and sugar, to dish soap will boost the bubble quality. By taking in both strong qualities of the sugar solution's strength and the salt's size, this solution will be better than both the salt and sugar mixtures alone. In order to do this, one teaspoon of each ingredient, salt and sugar, should be added to a two- thirds cup of water. Stir well, and blow with adjustments to speed and strength, with a straw.

The Pros And Cons Of Attentional Act - 1333 Words

Some states and parents simply do not have as many resources as others. For example, some states are paying for juniors to take the ACT for free (â€Å"Number of SAT and ACT Test-Takers†). This allows for some students to improve their score without having to worry about the cost of the test. Some students wish to take the ACT more than once, however, some families can not provide the financial means to give their son or daughter that opportunity. It is not fair for some students to take the test ten times, while others only once. This is because students do not have the same opportunity. When students do not have the same opportunity, it is not possible to see what a student can truly do under the same circumstances. The ACT must ask the†¦show more content†¦In Teachers Cheat on Tests as a Reaction to Poor Education Policy, the author, Prentice explains how teachers push boundaries to help their students. In Atlanta, 110 teachers were put on administrative leave after they helped their students cheat to improve their test scores. The author states by putting so much emphasis on student test scores, teachers were incentivized to cheat in order to prevent students from being labeled as failures and to keep schools from being closed...governments testing initiative is also misguided and arguably immoral (Prentice). Teachers become so frustrated with standardized tests that it causes them to betray their morals and help their students. The priority of the teachers was to help their students in any way possible because they knew that they would not be able to succeed on their own. Many teachers were fired, criminally charged, plead guilty to those charges, but they leave their blame on the go vernment. If students did not reach their breaking points, then their teachers would not have helped their students cheat. 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