My name is Zehra. I go to Gateway Science Academy in St. Louis and have been a part of the Show Me Smokefree campaign for five months. Show Me Smokefree is working to make all public spaces in Missouri, including parks, smokefree. This campaign is important to me because I had an uncle whose life was changed by tobacco. My uncle studied pharmaceutical science at a Turkish university, but smoking kept him from living his dream life. Eventually, he had to be hospitalized for emphysema, which harmed his career for many years. Sometimes I think about what it would be like if he never started smoking. If there were stronger smokefree laws when he was growing up, maybe he would never have started smoking in the first place.
Recently, I attended a Building Communities for Better Health Coalition meeting in St. Louis in order to spread the word about Show Me Smokefree. In the meeting, we discussed the risks of secondhand smoke and possible solutions, including smokefree multiunit housing. Participating in this meeting inspired me to keep working toward a smokefree Missouri. Not only do comprehensive smokefree laws reduce the health problems caused by secondhand smoke, they make smoking in public less common, which might prevent a young person from starting to smoke in the first place.
I believe in fate and that kids are our future, so if we decrease smoking indoors, we can change the world’s fate dramatically. I might not be able to change my uncle’s life, but I hope I can change the lives of young people in Missouri.
