And Now For Something Completely Different

The Uncle isn’t generally against scaring kids. It can be a hell of a lot of fun, but...

The Uncle’s sister, Aunt Fred (our parents weren’t at their best when it came to naming children), smokes cigarettes.

Now, I’m not thrilled about that, it smells bad, it burns holes in stuff, it costs a lot and it will probably hurt her health.

She only smokes outdoors, away from possible victims of second-hand smoke, but even so...

The problem is her son. The Uncle’s nephew is certain that his mom will die, probably soon, from smoking

and he is scared out of his wits.

He was told something in school and whatever it was that was actually said, what he heard was that cigarettes will kill you.

Not "may" but "will."

And that isn’t true.

Far too many people are cutting their lives short by smoking, but not every smoker will die from it. Some will die early due to something else. Some will live long, long lives, seemingly healthy and happy. Why? Go know. But it happens.

So, what’s my point?

If kids think that smoking is bad for their parents and nag them to stop, that might be a good thing.

But if they come away from school certain that its going to kill their folks, probably later that day...

They’re going to be scared to death

and

they are going to think that someone is lying to them.