Thank you, Mr Rudd

When KRudd announced he would put a massive tax hike on cigarettes I actually applauded him. Money. It truly is everything. I was already scrounging through the coin box in my car to pay for my next packet of cigarettes without thinking twice. It had never crossed my mind how ridiculous and desperate I would have looked to a non-smoker. Somehow though, I always came up with that last five cent piece to pay for them. But now I would need to come up with another two dollars. I realised it would be an impossible task; something only God could deliver to me, and I knew he wasn’t going to do so anytime soon. So I had to face reality. I was going to have to quit smoking, and I didn’t mind one bit.
It is now the eighteenth day since my last cigarette and with every day that passes, I think less and less about those previously wonderful and abundant opportunities to light up. One of the best things about this new path I am travelling is the amount of money I have lying around now. I almost don’t know what to do with it. A new savings account? It hadn’t crossed my mind since I deposited $70,000 into a super account.
But something no one had told me before is how much better I would feel to be fag free. I can breathe. I can smell. I can taste. My healthy diet of mostly vegetables doesn’t feel like a complete irony. I can sleep properly. I don’t feel like crap. But unfortunately there are people who are not as financially desperate as I am, and who can foot the new tax hike without losing any sleep. Sadly they are not going to know how damn good it feels to quit.