Great days to be remembered seldom come, but small ones surround us daily.
I do not have a Roman holiday, but I have a non smoking day instead.
Today a nc-smoking sign easily hooks up my interesting and rewarding experience on the world non smoking day a few years
As a high school student, I, together with my friends, volunteered on a campaign to discourage public smoking by persuacling people in public places to extinguish their cigarettes and put the cigarette ends into our metal boxes. And we would in return give them a memorial sticker bearing patterns and words voicing the theme of the non smoking day.
The first step is never a fast step. After hunting for quite a while, we set our target on a young man who was enjoying his cigarette at a bus stop. Embracing the philosophy of "nothing ventured, nothing gained", we summoned up all our courage,walked up and asked, "Sir, would you please not smoke in public places?" "It is none of your business! Why are you so busily engaged in such things? Go and mind your own exams!" He was great, I believed, for he was able to drag on his cigarette while at the same time not giving his tongue a break. And I further found out that for this man, such words as "good for your health" or "good for common courtesy" had long lost their appeal. Maybe such kind of situation should call for some other policy. I managed a smile, blended with sweet words and tried to dilute his resistance. And when we put the sticker on his clothes, he was lingering over the joy of having done us "a big favor."
Now you see, maybe flattery should be vindicated, for to please is a great step toward persuading and a smile is a curve that sets everything straight.
Our work ran smoothly when things began easy to handle in the afternoon. But don't worry. Troubles are just around the corner. The second hard rock we met was a middle aged man who appeared to be more of a smoking addict than a smokingenthusiast. Nothing seemed to be capable of extinguishing that cigarette. Even the wind seemed to be powerless. We showed him the cigarettes filled metal box. We spotlighted the hazards of public smoking. But all was in vain.
Mark Twain was right, habit is habit, not to be flung out of window by anyone, but to be coaxed downstairs one step at a time. I then tried to peel the stubborn onion one layer at a time."Ok, I know how you feel. But do you know how other people around you feel?" "You see that child? Actually he smokes more of your cigarette than you do!" "In fact, you are extinguishing one cell of lung cancer when you extinguish your cigarette. You are extinguishing one cell of the disease of selfishness when you extinguish your cigarette." It is that maybe that constant drops do wear the stone. At last he extinguished our words by extinguishing his cigarette.
As the sinking sun tinted the horizon, we began to count the cigarette ends, savoring our little victories.
That day saw me toiling for 6 hours, inviting loads of troubles, collecting 57 cigarette-ends,savoring hundreds of potential second hand smokers and developing for myself some sense of responsibility toward society.
Though it was a little depressing to realize that those people would naturally pick up their "tradition" just where they had temporarily laid it down, yet how far can we estimate our actions would travel! And besides that, I was rewarded in another day.That is, the experience dawned upon me the significance of care and consideration for other people. Since then, I have been as cooperative as possible whenever I am asked to improve my public behavior and I am always ready to get involved in such volunteer work.
In a sense, the highest reward for ones toil is not what they get from it but what they become by it.
