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There are some people who may find this post offensive. Please forgive me. It is not my intention to offend. But there’s something that’s been on my mind for a while and I have to let it out.

It’s about smoking. It’s about the people who smoke. It’s about the people who think that they can dodge the cancer bullet.

Don’t get me wrong. Most of us have had a few cigarettes at some point in our lives. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the hundreds and hundreds of people who I see on the streets, puffing away as if their lives depended on it. Those who have to have a puff regularly throughout the day. Those people who know that smoking kills but blithely continue.

To me (and sorry if this seems harsh) there seems to be a good deal of arrogance in smokers. There seems to be an assumption that they won’t get ill from it. As if they are have some sort of magic protection. As if the rules don’t apply to them. Nothing in life winds me up more than people who think the rules don’t apply to them.

I look at all the people with cancer who don’t smoke, who are fit and healthy, who are coping with (or have coped with) this hideous disease. I look at all the people who have died from this hideous disease. I look at the children, the sweet tiny children, bravely struggling to reach adulthood. I look and I weep and I rail against the unfairness. And I can’t bear it that there are people who take the chance that they too will join our ranks but don’t seem to care.

Smokers, take it from me. Cancer is not fun. Cancer is not a game. Chemo is hideous. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. It’s debilitating. It’s exhausting. It takes your life and screws it up into a poor shadow of what it was. It’s depressing and grotty and boring and vile. Why take the chance? How can you assume it won’t happen to you? Cancer happens to 1 in 2 of us, apparently. Don’t you want to be in the good 50%? Don’t do it. Don’t be arrogant. Don’t assume. Don’t risk it. Nothing is worth it. Trust me.