4.2.08

TFFL Episode 3

Dum spiro, spero
"While I breathe, I hope”
- Latin Proverb

The Tobacco Free Florida Street Team has a prize wheel.  This is of course a much sought-after wheel as the prizes issued for spinning the wheel and answering the questions are from our Spring 2008 Tobacco Free line and are limited-edition, not available in stores items.  What a day it is when the wheel turns and the answers to the trivia questions begin to flow!

The options on the wheel include various tobacco trivia questions and between each trivia question is another, somewhat more personal, option that allows the guest wheel-spinner to simply tell us why they care - why they don't smoke.

The answers given by children range from the typical to the typical and that is fine by us, as they are just grasping what it means to make positive decisions.  The most common answer that they can provide is “you can die” along with comments about smell, bad teeth, lungs, etc.

Sometimes, when the wheel lands on trivia our guests with more life experience will reluctantly answer the question but clearly they have something else to say, and of course we don't rush them away.

The hesitation to leave after answering the general-knowledge trivia question, in most cases, is their desire to tell us why they care - why they don't smoke.  When prompted, the answers and reasons are far-reaching, but they all have one thing in common.  A loss, a tragedy, a situation that threw their lives into upheaval that caused them to take stock of what is really important.

Throat cancer.  Small cell lung cancer.  Esophogeal cancer.  Death.

A father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband or wife was invariably affected.  And a piece of their heart and soul – their very being – was ripped out.  Forever.

But out of tragedy, good things can grow.  The decision to end an unhealthy habit or the decision to not start a less than desirable habit can both be results of someone passing through one of life’s rough patches.

Its difficult to see past today sometimes.  Each day brings enough challenges of its own that to plan for a week, month, year or a lifetime ahead brings uncertainty and no guarantees.  Sometimes it may seem like the deck of life isn’t dealt in your favor, but you can take steps to stack your OWN deck in your favor by taking steps to better yourself and those around you.

What a day it is for you and for us when the wheel turns.  Make it a day for the record books  You won’t get it back.

Have a strong day.

Tobacco Free Florida out.