Padraig, I am a smoker... who selfishly pricked up their ears at the news today .... (after many failed attempts at giving up) .....
Let me put this my way .....
I would love some miracle medicine for me:
I am the idiot who many years ago picked up this horrid habit under peer pressure (like I didn't have a mind of my own
) ...... and have found myself totally addicted..... potentially wrecking my health, certainly my finances ..... and the more I worry about the damage I am doing the more stressed I get and more likely to reach for a 'ciggie'..... YET THE NHS WILL SUPPORT ME IN TRYING TO KICK A HABIT I KNOW IS NOT GOOD FOR ME.....
I would love some miracle medicine for my mum:
She is the one has done nothing to deserve what she is going through .. it's not through anything of her own making that she is 'cursed' with what she faces now....
What I know is I can (if I chose) access (all for free) no-smoking clinics/counsellors, prescription chewing gum etc..... on the NHS ..... yet we still await whether mum's recommended 'Aricept' ever transpires......
I feel an element of 'who is most deserving?' - don't need to answer that ....
What I know is I am a prime 'statistic' ...... easy to quantify the number of 'ex-smokers' (saved souls???? ) but when the government and NHS come up with an argument about QUALITY of life, I'll start taking more heed....... and I agree with you ... that's what can't be quantified...... we know it, and they know it...... just we admit it and they don't......
Thanks (I think!) for that, Padraig,
Karen, x