 Friends, fellow Bilkenters, and various people I don't know! Have
you heard about hottest new trend sweeping the campus? Everyone is talking about it.
Everyone is doing it. It's the coolest thing since Britney had a meltdown. Its called
quitting smoking! All the kids are getting hooked on not being hooked on smoking! Honestly
- smoking is NOT the cool thing to do. Think about it for a minute. Think about how
smoking really does affect your life. Do you usually find yourself in conflict with your
friends and loved ones who don't smoke? Are you forced to smoke outside, which can be hard
between classes and not much fun in the winter? Are you sick of stinking like an ashtray
all the time? Is all of your spare cash going up in smoke? Can you walk up a hill without
huffing and puffing and having to stop every few seconds? Dudes and Dudettes, there is
just nothing cool about smoking.
This past June, Bilkent University decided to step up their campaign: "Sigarasız
Bilkent." Smokers are probably thinking, "Huh? I'm not allowed to smoke in
most buildings on campus anyway!" But, look around! Where are smokers smoking? Do
they go out into the middle of a field? No. Most non-smokers have to walk through a
gauntlet of cancer stick puffers to get in and out of almost every building, which means
they are still being exposed to grungy, tar filled, lung blackening second hand smoke!
Beyond that, think about how your lungs are being baked into little charred bits with each
puff. You have to breathe to live. If you kill your lungs, you can't breathe, right? And
if you can't breathe, what happens? Get the picture?
So, if you don't already know, you may be asking what is this whole "Sigarasız
Bilkent " business exactly? According to Dr. Başak Soyluoğlu from the East
Campus Health Center, the program has had 3 aims all along: To have fewer smokers on
campus, to eliminate secondhand smoke by removing all indoor smoking areas, and to make
sure quitters don't start smoking again. To achieve this, they've set up polyclinics for
smokers at the Health Centers with designated doctors for each patient.
Everyone is welcome to go to the Health Center on either campus where doctors and nurses
are ready to talk to you about your smoking problem. Sure, I could go on and on about your
increased risk for cancer and heart attacks, and not getting as many dates because you
smell so bad, but you've heard it all before. Dr. Soyluoğlu believes that talking to
medical personnel is far more effective than, say, dire warnings on cigarette boxes.
Talking about your addiction can set you on the path towards a healthier life. After you
take that first step, the Health Center staff will be with you the rest of the way. They
provide respiratory tests before and after you quit (so you can see how your health has
progressed), counseling to help you get over your psychological addiction, and as a last
resort, they can offer drug treatments to give you a helping hand.
I would like to thank all the smokers who are reading this article. I really do hope that
you won't just roll your eyes and move on to the next article. I know it can get tiresome
being lectured about your smoking addiction all the time, but it really is something worth
discussing. And to the non-smokers who are reading this, I urge you to tell your friends
about this campaign. You just might save a life, or at least prevent an argument the next
time you're having lunch as to whether you should sit in the smoking or the non-smoking
section.
Sera De Vor (AMER/ III)
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