Post modern smoking

A chilly smokers corner at Abingdon College. It saddens me no end to see this latest generation puffing away. It's a different world now than it was when I was that age: cigarettes are no longer the subject of glossy adverts everywhere you look, television and film are no longer full of "cigarette acting" as they used to be ( as perfected by John Wayne, Jack Nicholson et al who in movies like "The Quiet Man" or "Five Easy Pieces" always seemed to be either lighting up or casting them away dramatically after two puffs) , society has rejected smoking as the norm and exiled addicts to miserable exile outdoors, and yet despite its fall from grace as icon of cool, sophistication and seduction, despite the greater knowledge and education about the health effects, youngsters are still starting to smoke. My own 40+ a day habit was a monkey on my back for years after I first decided to give up. I lost count of the number of attempts to quit, it was sheer hell, and although its a decade or more since I last lit up I still get cravings, I no doubt always will. To see these otherwise intelligent young people making the same mistake I did and voluntarily sticking their head in the noose is tragic.