Puff

(Credits to bgfons.com)

It has to be now. There is no never. You don’t mind the place. You don’t mind the time.

You take out one stick. You then light it. Puff. Finally. You can now relax. You just need to enjoy it up to the very last bit.

When the stick is just about one-inch long, you threw it to the ground. The ember is still glowing red. You don’t mind the place. You don’t mind the people around.

But then I was right behind you. I almost stepped on the it. Thankfully, I was able to avoid it and save my feet from burns.

I was also right behind you when you took out the stick. I even cringed. I cringed even more the moment you puffed. I could not breathe from the smoke you produced. I didn’t have a mask to protect myself. The handkerchief I carry proved to be useless.

I wondered then. If I couldn’t breathe, how could you? If I can’t even stand just the smell, how could you? Why do risk your life for a piece of stick or perhaps for those boxes of sticks?

Further, I wondered. It’s lucky that that you threw the stick on a concrete ground. What if you threw it on a pile of dry leaves? What if it landed on a bunch of paper? Worse, what if it was left inside a house?

I have a lot of why’s and what if’s for that stick. It can ruin you and the lives of those around you. I saw how it ruined they very people I love. I do not want you and any other people suffer the same fate.

Please, if you can, throw that stick now. And I hope you eventually learn to never seek for one.