This is a piece I began several weeks ago. I decided to finish it this morning. It's been a fairly bumpy July. I feel the need to tell ya'll about it to try to get a point accross. My mother died of COPD last week. That makes the second parent I have lost to cigaretts. I don't want you guys to think I'm preaching because I also smoked for 21 years. (Been off for 11) I watched my mother gasping for air with the medical equivalent of a fighter pilot mask over her face. Oxygen being forced into her lungs to try to flush out the CO2 that was slowly poisoning her. Her mind was still whole and she was suffocating. She couldn't speak because of the effort, but the fear showed in her eyes. Guys, if any of you smoke please make a plan to stop as soon as you can muster up the guts to do it. Personally I tried 3 times (cold turkey) the third time being the charm. If you have family you care about, please deny them the horror of watching you suffocate before their eyes. Smoking is just slow suicide. Now I have to shake off the feeling that I still have the posibility that the same fate waits for me. I run now and all the medical research says I have done wonders for myself. But there is still the chance. Please stop. Stop now. rap...