Current Events & Trends: Smoking rates higher among poorer people
Why do poorer people smoke at higher rates than wealthy people? It may be that smoking gives some pleasure and meaning to an otherwise average life. Or in the end it may be no more than that they're just bored.
The New York Times recently highlighted the disparity between smoking rates in poorer and wealthier areas of the country—4 in 10 in poorer areas and 1 in 10 in wealthier areas. The data was compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and released in March of this year. "The national smoking rate has declined steadily, but there is a deep geographic divide [between pockets of affluence and impoverished areas of the country]" (Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff, "In a New Divide, Smoking Is Becoming a Habit of the Poor," March 25, 2014).
As the poor smoke more they also suffer more of the health consequences—ultimately living shorter lives. The comment of a 51-year-old laborer sums up the trap of nicotine addiction. While many of his friends have died of lung cancer he continues to smoke but says, "I want to see my grandson grow up."
That dream alone should be enough for the man to stop smoking. You wish it could be the catalyst. People who live life on the edge see no further problem with puffing their life away on "smokes." A fatalistic view of life coupled with no hope for a better quality of life creates a vacuum. Cigarettes are often an attempt to fill that vacuum.
Education campaigns highlighting the health dangers of smoking help, but in the end for a person to quit smoking it often takes a health scare—their own or someone else's—to quit. But until you have a central purpose for living right in the center of your life, habits that destroy life will always be a crutch to fill the gap. Find your life's purpose and fill your life with meaning.
To learn more about this subject, read our article "Smoking and Health: The Often-Overlooked Key" (Source: The New York Times.)
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Rudolph Rangel III
Rudy Rangel attends the Cincinnati East, Ohio congregation along with his wife Judy and two children.
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
Peter Eddington
Peter serves at the home office as advisor to the Church's president. Beforehand, he was Media and Communications Services operation manager for 25 years.
He studied production engineering at the Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and is a journeyman machinist. He moved to the United States to attend Ambassador College in 1980. He graduated from the Pasadena campus in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and married his college sweetheart, Terri. Peter was ordained an elder in 1992. He served as assistant pastor in the Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California, congregations from 1995 through 1998 and the Cincinnati, Ohio, congregations from 2010 through 2011.
