STOP HOOKAH: Hookah Smoking is Injurious to Health

As a social experiment/ personal desire... I ran an experiment recently on my birthday. I basically forced people to promise me to stop smoking hookah.

The results: Hesitation, Confusion, Anger, and also consideration of me being stupid. Not to mention disappointment, and hurt on my part.


It is quiet evident to me that people are aware of the risks of smoking hookah, however in that social environment the allure of it is so enticing that it just doesn't seem to matter. With more and more hookah bars popping up in more and more places providing opportunities to smoke hookah with your friends, it doesn't seem very likely that my friends, or for that matter anyone reading this note is going to stop smoking hookah anytime soon.

What is so curious about it, is that growing up I saw a rise in disgust for cigarette smoking. People around me seemed to be more and more aware of the huge risks of tobacco, and how it affected themselves, and their immediate families. They wowed to not touch cigarettes because of that matter, and a lot of the people I have talked to still stay true to those values.

Yet, hookah somehow is Ok? 'On average, 45 - 60 minutes of hookah smoking is the equivalent of chain smoking 15 cigarettes. Hookah tobacco also contains 36 times more tar, 15 times more carbon monoxide and 70 percent more nicotine than cigarette tobacco. ' (Maroon)

The same article raises concerns about the amount of deaths caused by tobacco related diseases in Louisiana. Where as another article, by the Harvard Health Publication rises concerns on the addictive effects of hookah, and the lack of means to regulate this addiction.

I still can't accept the lack of intelligence in this practice. I really can't understand the justification for it. Have we not seen our elders crumble and health bills rise over the years? Risks of heart disease, lung disorders, oral and throat related cancers and other deadly illnesses should be enough to stop you from smoking.

With the constant rise in hookah bars, and people smoking hookah all over the world (Virginia common wealth university reported that in 2009, 47% of the incoming freshmen had smoked hookah at least once, and 20% were active smokers. ) it is hard to not think of this as leading to a health crisis.

Cigarette smoking has been considerably controlled in first world nations, and the huge health risks and concerns of the 70s-80s-90s seem to be subsiding. I fear it is in false pretense though. And for the sake of the friends I care about, I would hate to be right.

Please stop smoking. For the environment, For your better health, for me.

http://www.loyolamaroon.com/editorial-and-opinions/hookah-smoke-has-negative-effects-1.892633

http://www.bing.com/health/article/harvard-1000244290/The-hazards-of-hookah?q=effects+smoking+hookah&FORM=FFF

http://www.udreview.com/2.1981/hookah-health-effect-myths-go-up-in-smoke-1.138067

Focus(Reposted)

I have been thinking about writing here for quite some time now, but there has not been a strong enough motivator to do so. I am constantly pre-occupied in the world around me, do not have a chance to reflect. Today, something changed and helped me understand myself better.
Growing up, people always told me to look at life, and learn from it. My grandfather's life story has shown me how he has learned from every obstacle thrown his way. So, I have tried to learn from life's good and bad. Learning from your experiences surely makes you wiser, but learning from other's experiences makes you smarter. Which is why, I have tried to listen to people's stories, understand other's lives and learn from them as much as I can. Along the way, perhaps I have been given a chance to help someone out, and seized it. Learning from experiences, and the situations life throw at you helps with two things. It stops you from repeating a mistake more than once, and it gives you a different perspective on life's sorrows.
So as a follow up to the previous paragraph, I was going to list a group of sorrows in my life, that I have learned from, only to realize I don't remember any particular sorrow. I think that is proof enough, that this method could truly work.
Today, however I lost sight of my own way of life. I have been wrapped up with something for a while now, and that situation has exhausted my entire way of thinking. I felt exhausted of learning, absolutely out of focus.
It was then, that I remembered my grandfather's favorite poem. As i read through it word for word, I felt a lift of pressure. It brought me back into a more conformed self, and it was the much needed slap on my face to help me refocus.
I share with you the following poem, written by the late writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, called the Psalm of Life:

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

I hope you enjoy this poem. I will perhaps paraphrase my depiction of this poem in one of my future blogs.