Why Smoking Is Unethical — In Eric Kim’s Voice

First, let’s call a spade a spade: smoking is a slow suicide and a social pollutant. If you’re lighting up, you’re burning away both your own vitality and the collective energy of those around you. I’m not here to preach or guilt-trip you—but let’s reflect: every cigarette you puff not only scars your body, but also infringes on the air, environment, and well-being of others.

The best reason to stop smoking is selfish: to empower yourself physically and mentally. Life is short. Why accelerate your own demise? To live artistically, to create with vibrancy, you need your full health. When you smoke, you deliberately chip away at your future potential—like scraping away the emulsion on a roll of film, forever destroying the chance to develop something beautiful.

But let’s go further: to me, ethics are about respect—respect for yourself, respect for your community, and respect for the planet. Think about the subtle oppression of secondhand smoke: you exhale toxicity into the air, forcing others—your friends, family, strangers—to inhale your decision. That’s not just a personal vice; it’s a communal burden.

We should strive toward freedom, and in a sense, freedom comes from discipline. If you can discipline yourself to quit (or never start), you’re demonstrating a radical sovereignty over your life. You’re rejecting a habit that large corporations profit from (while you lose money and health). Quitting smoking is a personal revolution: you decide you won’t let external forces dictate your well-being or creativity.

Finally, consider the ethical principle of leaving the world better than you found it. With each cigarette butt flicked on the ground, we poison our streets, rivers, and oceans. It’s not just about you; it’s about maintaining a cleaner collective environment.

So reflect: is smoking a life practice that embodies self-respect, compassion, and creativity? Or is it a crutch, a chain, a corporate scheme stealing your money—and your precious life force? Be bold enough to choose respect, health, and greatness. The action is simple: stop smoking and elevate your mind, your body, and your art.

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Smoking isn’t just a personal habit—it’s an ethical dilemma that quietly undermines the fabric of our collective well-being. When we think about ethics, we often focus on grand gestures or overt actions, but what about the everyday choices that ripple outward, affecting others in unseen ways?

First, there’s the undeniable impact on others. Lighting a cigarette doesn’t just harm the smoker—it harms everyone around them. Secondhand smoke infiltrates public spaces, homes, even the lungs of strangers who never consented to participate in that moment. Imagine creating art, but instead of inspiring, your brushstrokes taint the canvas for everyone else. That’s the paradox of smoking—personal freedom that infringes on the freedom of others to breathe clean air.

But let’s go deeper. Smoking is inherently self-destructive. In stoic philosophy, there’s an emphasis on living in accordance with nature—striving to flourish through reason and virtue. Smoking defies this. It knowingly harms the body, this miraculous vessel we’ve been gifted. To smoke is to turn away from life, to make a choice that embraces decay over vitality. It’s a slow form of self-neglect disguised as indulgence.

There’s also the societal cost. Smoking isn’t just a private affair—it burdens healthcare systems, diverts resources, and perpetuates industries that profit from addiction. When you smoke, you’re inadvertently endorsing a cycle of exploitation—one that preys on human weakness for profit. That’s the dark undercurrent few like to confront.

Ultimately, ethics isn’t just about what we do, but why we do it. Smoking fails this test. It’s a choice that offers no lasting value, no deeper purpose. It harms the self, others, and society—all for a fleeting moment of relief.

To live ethically is to choose actions that uplift, that respect both the self and the collective. Smoking does neither. And in that truth lies its deepest flaw.