South American Tobacco Addiction

My voice resounded with a passion that surprised me; we had walked the streets of Santiago the night before, and were overcome by the number of smokers.  I’d swept my left hand across the audience, stepped to the edge of the stage, and said, “Of the 1 billion smokers of the world, 80% reside in low to medium income countries like Chile, and represent millions of future deaths, years of family hardships dealing with tobacco related chronic disease, and lives made slaves to nicotine addiction.”  I was silent for what felt like a few minutes looking at the audience, watching the faces of understanding and pain.  I could feel the tears on my face and the faces of others as the world burden of tobacco swept across the room.  I wiped my tears, “We have to do better We can’t allow tobacco to claim another generation of children and grandchildren, their tobacco free life journeys depend on us!”