I got this email from a friend today and I wanted to share it. The nostalgia of it resonates with me, of course, and I've long railed against the "disposable" nature our society has assumed. But this also speaks to me of our Quits...

I grew up in the 60's/70's with practical parents. A mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had a Name for it... A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress Things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, eating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

But then my mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return. So... While we have it.. it's best we love it... And care for it... And fix it when it's broken.... And heal it when it's sick.

This is true... For marriage.... And old cars... And children with bad report cards..... Dogs and cats with bad hips.... And aging parents.... And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special.... And so, we keep them close!

I received this from someone who thinks I am a 'keeper', so I've sent it to the people I think of in the same way... Now it's your turn to send this to those people that are "keepers" in your life.

Keep them close

Our Quits are worth Keeping -- and we are worth the effort of learning to live smoke-free. Because we are worth keeping, too.

Keep the Quit Every Buddy!

I've stumbled across the story from the NY Times bemoaning actors' restrictions from lighting up on stage. One comment was made that smoking onstage is an issue of "freedom of expression" and another actually said that "smoking is a part of our history".

C'mon people. Get real.

Addiction to smoking is already difficult enough to overcome without encountering the second-hand smoke in a theater. There is no doubt that various plays and productions have to portray people smoking in order to be true to the scene. But as the NY Times article points out, Molly Ringwald, for whom I suddenly have increased respect, used a fake cigarette that emitted powder to simulate smoke to be true to her role in "Sweet Charity".

As to the argument about smoking being part of our history... if we use that kind of rationale, then shooting up heroine onstage is okay. The near genicide of entire Native American tribes onstage would be true to history. Extermination of various cultures or persons of a specific religion or ancestry would be true to history, if enacted on stage.

In short - it's a perfectly legitimate desire to depict what really happened in our history, without actually doing the thing you're depicting.

Smoking kills people. If you're going to give waivers to actors so they can smoke actual cigarettes of any form, tobacco or herbal or whatever, then how about we have an encore presentation of a few terminal cancer patients in their death throes instead of a cast call for a standing ovation.

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