[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5371]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              DON'T SMOKE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARGE ROUKEMA

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 23, 1999

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw attention to an excellent 
composition on the dangers of smoking written by Katherine Sommer, a 
student at Byrd Elementary School in Glen Rock, New Jersey. The 
composition was the winning entry in a competition held as part of a 
week-long anti-smoking program currently under way at Byrd Elementary. 
The composition is as follows.

                              Don't Smoke

                         (By Katherine Sommer)

       Things can happen. Some things can't be helped. Some things 
     can. Some people die of old age, heart attacks, and many 
     other things, but a lot of people die a long, horrible death. 
     They die of smoking. It could happen to you if you make one 
     bad decision. Think of it this way--if you choose to smoke, 
     you'll be doing something really stupid. You could get very 
     sick or even die. That wouldn't be worth it, would it? The 
     worst part is it would be all your own fault!
       Some teenagers and younger children start smoking for some 
     really silly reasons. Some kids may want to join a popular 
     group at school, and think smoking will make them look older. 
     Some girls think smoking will make them look cool and boys 
     will like them more. What they don't know is if what happened 
     on the inside of your body happened on the outside, you would 
     look really ugly.
       If you think that most kids smoke, you're wrong. The 
     average kid doesn't smoke, and if you're anywhere near 
     average, you won't either. You could really hurt yourself. 
     You could get lung cancer, throat cancer, gum cancer, or lip 
     cancer. These are only some of the horrible diseases you can 
     get from smoking. And think, you could die just from trying 
     to be cool.
       Another reason you may start smoking is that a family 
     member or really good friend may already smoke. You might 
     think that it's harmless. You may think, I'll try one smoke, 
     and if I don't like it I won't have any more. Well, it's not 
     that easy. Smoking is addictive. That means that once you 
     start something you can't stop. Once you try, it could be too 
     late.
       I don't intend to smoke. You shouldn't either. Don't let 
     anything interfere with your dreams. Just don't try smoking. 
     It's not healthy.

     

                          ____________________