THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING

I saw this sign at the 7-11 in Manhattan as I was buying a cold drink today. I was shocked, seeing the death toll of 1200 people a day, from smoking.
This reminded me of the Covid outbreak in Manhattan, when over 1,000 people a day were dying of Covid. Shocking? Not so much. I have lived around

smokers all my life. I watched both of my parents die of smoking, gasping and suffocating from their damaged lungs. I loved them, but I hated the process. But smoking captures people, and I see people in movies smoking all the time, even now. Smoking has its antisocial bad boy appeal. Sean Penn, the humanitarian, proudly says he will smoke all he wants. It's his death. Well he did not actually say THAT, but he said something like it. So I say, okay, die how you want, but I find it difficult to consider the enormous medical costs involved in helping smokers who are now in ill health.  Many will be using their Medicare insurance, while struggling to breathe, and that is an enormous burden of the health care system. Our taxes will be helping to keep people like Sean Penn alive, despite his suicidal actions years before. So it's complicated. But I am hopeful these signs might help. Maybe. Then again, maybe not. Smokers know smoking kills. In fact, that might be part of its appeal. So to be continued.