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| Sunday, 16 June 2002 |
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Is it the 'in' to have a fag? by Umangi de Mel 'Fag', 'Booze', 'Getting High'... cool terms, ain't they? No matter what is said and done, teenagers these days are as likely to
experience 'smoking' like catching on a fever. Most kids smoke or like to
have a 'fag' in their hands, to be 'recognised'. The 'get-high' society
they live in tells them that fagging is 'cool' and thus, they To shed that 'geekish' look, would they rather grab a fag just to breathe out life, or end up looking like dopers who ate hay for breakfast... in the process of gaining acceptance? We asked our teens. Terese Cruz - 18 It looks cool alright. But they are wasting away just to keep up an image... and if you look further, you end up getting bad breath and you try kissing somebody who has been smoking and check out the taste; yikes! and this particular 'image' they are talking about, I guess it is something to do with people who are with a low self-esteem. If somebody feels like they are not `with it' or that they are just wall flowers and want to get out of that `dorkish' image for good, the immediate solution is the 'fag'. If you notice most of the smokers are teenagers and they are impressionable and insecure, they do not really know but they try to look like somebody who they think is cool. Shanez, 17 I hate it. What I think about the dudes of course, is that they are like balloons, filled with gas, empty within, which go up and burst without their knowledge. In other words, they may look nice for a while but mind you, only for a while. And the people who sell cigarettes outside schools should be shot or smoked out. It is no more a trend among the guys. They know that girls like to 'kiss a non smoker and taste the difference'. But alas, it has become a trend among the girls. Just go to a night club and the amount of girl population that smoke, is a sight to behold. It's got loads to do with peer pressure and the urge to be 'soughted out' or 'noticed'. I know a lot of people who think that the rings of smoke is kinda `concentration' to them, to see them melt away into the air. The image that is created by the `fag company' entices the teenager. They go for that `Young And Upcoming Executive' illusion that loses its appeal with age. Chris Fernandopulle, 19 Fagging is not cool, (even though I smoke...). Tobacco is very addictive. It has some chemicals that addict you. It saps your spontaneity and adolescent vitality. It is very hard to get out of that habit once you are addicted, I wish I were'nt into smoking. It takes time and commitment to recover. They do carry a warning alright in inconspicuous lettering which is not adequate enough to put anyone off. The suppliers do not care about the kids who consume these chemicals, all they want is to fatten their pockets. Sheziya, 19 These guys think it is cool to smoke and that it is the in thing to impress girls, which I am sure is a major gag. The wonderful thing about the company people is that they give a warning yet sell it and they advertise big time all over the place and expect people not to smoke just because of a warning that they can barely see, it is insipid. Peer pressure affect them badly. All these dudes wearing funky clothes, taking you back to those fancy dress parades in school, fag and think they are it. It is not only them who are affected by the poisonous reek, all those who are around him too are affected. We actually get to inhale what they exhale which is much worse. And as for the girls who smoke, I have no idea how anybody could explain that. Kelum Ranawaka, 20 Smokers are fools. They are the ones who try to build up a false image. Youth should be discouraged from smoking. They crave for experience and we are ever so famous for experimenting, but certain things are better not experimented. Lots of issues have two sides, positive and negative but where tobacco is concerned, there is no positive side. The fag ads make you laugh, don't they? Well, they get the healthiest man in town but the irony behind it is that Nicotine could transform the tall, dark hunk into a lifeless plank in no time. With the increasing rate of cancer in Sri Lanka and in the world people should be aware of the shortcomings. |
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are more
with it. Well, life is a mystery you have got to work out and as for those
who believe in doing a little bit of 'everything under the sun', you guys
might as well bear the limits in mind.
