Persuasive dialogue ~ On smoking

"I don’t like it that you smoke. You should stop smoking!"

"I am addicted to smoking; you knew that from the beginning. Why bring it up now?"

"I care for you; it’s bad for your health. You can suffer from lung cancer."

"I know it’s bad for my health."

"But do you know that 158,080 people in the U.S. died of lung cancer in 2016?"

"Okay, but my father always said: You have to die of something!"

"But you won’t die immediately, now won’t you?"

"How do you mean?"

"You will get sick, very ill. It won’t be a pretty sight. Who’s going to take care of you then?"

"I hope you will."

"I don’t know if I can do that. I am not the youngest; I have my health issues as well.

"I’ll go to a hospital then, or a sanatorium, I don’t know."

"And what about me? You can't think only about yourself."

"What about you?"

"Have you ever considered how it makes me feel, watching you dig your own grave?"

"Don’t be overdramatic here."

"I see you smoke every day, day in, day out, slowly killing yourself. It’s awful to watch.
I can’t sleep at night because I care. I love you."

"Love you too, you know that."

"And I am not the only one who wants you alive and well. There are your family and friends."

"They don’t mind me smoking."

"They do mind you don’t take care of yourself in a healthy way."

"Health is relative; I am less stressed with my cigarette."

"Why do you think Pete and Suzie have stopped smoking? They knew eventually how
dangerous smoking is. They did the right thing. "

"They were being politically correct, I’ll tell you. They have a hard time now they stopped. Pete is a nervous wreck, and Suzie is drinking too much."

"What about the money, then? Don’t you mind it costs a fortune? If you had stopped years ago you would have saved thousands and thousands of dollars. You could have bought a car; we could have had a financially more secure life. "

"I don’t mind living from paycheck to paycheck."

"But I do mind, I am tired of wasting my life, biting on straws. Knowing that you spend twenty dollars per week on fags. That’s eighty bucks a month, almost a thousand a year. How many years have you been smoking?"

"I started when I was 15."

"That’s more than 40,000 dollars you inhaled through your lungs. Are you crazy?"

"No, I am not."

"You act like you are crazy. It’s insane to risk your life, flush that amount of money down the toilet and hope that I will take care of you when you are deteriorating."

"But I am addicted! It’s like an illness, I can’t stop smoking."

"You have never tried, now have you?"

"No."

"There you go, if you only would give it one try. I know you can do it."

"I am not so sure."

"It’s all in the mind. You just have to convince yourself it’s better to stop."

"How would I do that?"

"You can start by reading this book by Allen Carr, The easy way to stop smoking."

"I have heard of it, yes."

"It’s a bestseller; it worked for millions of people."

"Like magic, sure."

"No, not like magic. It’s a book that really helps you understand why you smoke."

"I read the book and I stop smoking, just like that?"

"No, in fact, the book lets you smoke while reading. It only makes sure you have stopped at the end of the book. It really works!"

"I could give it a try, I suppose."

"That’s all I want to hear. Forget the patch, gum, hypnosis, acupuncture, and cold turkey. Just read!"

"You’re happy now?"

"Yes, I am. Read Allen Carr’s Easy way to stop smoking!"

WC: 642