When I was a young girl, it was very grown up and sophisticated to smoke.  I remember buying a pack of  cigaretts for 35 cents.  We felt so grown up and modern to smoke.  Clark Gable smoked, newsmen smoked.  It was very  much the thing to do.  Now all of my idols have died from lung cancer.  What a sad thing.  Please tell these young people that smoking is a bad thing.

I'm not a teen but I was addicted to smoking as a teen. I started to smoke around 10 or 11. Stealing ciggies from mom. I smoked for 20+ years. I quit smoking about 7 years ago. Was one of the best decisions I ever made. My old lady still smokes and I watch with amusement her reaction to all the anti smoking hoopla out there. I work construction and cigarette free job sites are becoming more common. It's nice not having that habit anymore. There is a freedom that comes with quiting smoking.

I'm not a teen(I'm 49) but smoking was popular when I was a teen.  My brother and I lived with my grandparents and they both smoked.  My dad and stepmother smoked.  As a child, it was disgusting to drive in the car with them, all smoking.  I grew up is Ohio and during the winter all the car windows were shut and you could see the cigarette smoke haze hovering in the car.  Trying to crack a car window would result in me getting yelled at as it was too cold to put it down.  I sworn then I would never smoke a cigarette and to this day neither my brother nor me has.

I am surprised that my asking young people not to smoke, because of the bad health things that can happen have upset people.  What kind of town is this anyway.  For someone to tell young people not to smoke should not be a bad thing.

jen what the hell are you blabbering on about now. Your comments come out of left field. Who's upset?

I did not post the 2nd comment.  I never posted the comment on 2-19 saying people should not smoke.  The comment I posted was dated Feb 16, stating that in my day, smoking was glamorous and sophisticated.  I am sorry that someone may be tampering with my comments.  I never, ever touted people smoking.  I only was thinking that smoking was always such a glamorous, grown up Hollywood thing.  Unless someone posted something, or some comment trying to make me look foolish.  I am sad that smoking has taken so many people from our lives.  I truly dont believe that I said that.  It looks like people thought I was being irrational, the dancing banana man seems to have something to say.  If you look at my original letter, I was mourning the loss of so many of my generation, who looked at smoking as a sophisticated thing, who died horrible, undignified deaths because of smoking.  Someone must have very much misunderstood my intent.  It seems that when I said young people should not smoke, that now it seems like I said young people should smoke, which wasn't  what I said at all.