In these days, smoking can be very expensive.
So why do poor people smoke? Can they really afford it? Shouldn’t they be spending the little money they have on more practical things, like food and shelter?
You may think the answer would obviously be yes, and they do, but you often see a lot of poor people, especially the homeless, as smokers.
If you’re poor, and living with limited means, paycheck to paycheck, on welfare, collecting cans, or anything of that nature, you haven’t got much to do.
If you’re very poor, you probably don’t have a TV.
What do you do if you don’t have a TV to watch?
A cigarette takes about 7 minutes to finish. That gives someone with nothing to do SOMETHING TO DO for 7 minutes.
Homeless people don’t really have much to do.
Why?
It’s simple. It takes time out of their day. They’ve got nothing else to do.
Why do a lot of poor people have large families? Because they don’t realize how expensive having children can be, and often times end up relying on the government for support and help.
Often times they have more children so they get more government aid, or tax breaks.
Same can be said with cigarettes.
Poor people smoke because they don’t know the risks involved, or they simply don’t care.
It takes up a good chunk of their day, and they are fine with it, regardless of the health issues that may arise later on in life.
Another reason why poor people smoke is because all their family members smoke. All their relatives smoke, and all their friends.
Smoking runs in the family.
Children watch their parents smoke, so they will probably be smokers, too.
That’s unfortunately the way it is. The less money someone has, the more likely they are to smoke.
When I was a smoker, I often times replaced meals with cigarettes. For breakfast I had coffee and cigarettes, and no food until lunch.
I did that more often than I want to admit.
You can replace any meals with cigarettes, though. Nicotine doesn’t care.
Poor people, I’m sure, don’t eat many meals a day, so smoking replaces those meals.
Unfortunately, this isn’t something that’s going to change.
All the above seem pretty poor excuses. Replacing cheap, nutritious food with expensive, lethal cigarettes is not a worthwhile bargain. Claiming it’s something to do without a TV? Read a book – charity shops have vast numbers for almost nothing. Saying you can’t stop because your friends and family still smoke? Be a rebel, not a sheep.
And if you’re a parent: YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE LEFT.