peter
“I served nine years in the British army, five years in Germany, two years in active service in Yemen, close to Saudi Arabia where Al Qaeda was born. In the army, and for years after, I was a light-mid weight boxer. I fought all over Germany, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Britain… I used to do cross-country running and skiing in the German mountains, and I sailed in the Baltic Sea. I was a very fit man. Yet still, the most dangerous thing I ever did was to light my first cigarette. Look at me now. I’d be a great advertisement for anti-cigarette campaigns. The worst was when my lungs gave up for the first time and I finally quit, and realizing giving them up was so much easier than I thought. I have to get an operation and spend a week in the hospital every four to six weeks because the passage to my stomach collapses and I can’t eat. That’s why I’m so weak. I’m not complaining, I’m 73 and I had a good life, but I often wonder how long I would have lived without lighting that first cigarette.”