“I wish I…(gasp) didn’t start… (gasp) smoking at the… (gasp) age of seventeen…(gaaaaaaaasp!)”

It was tiring to just watch Joe breath.

Every act of inhaling for him was pure torture.

Joe has severe emphysema–an incurable lung condition, often caused by prolonged smoking.

The way he breathed, you’d think he was having an asthma attack 24 hours a day.

Joe hasn’t gone out of his room for five years now.

Because he can’t.

He just lies in bed the whole day, staring at the ceiling, mumbling to himself.

I should know.

Because he’s been in ANAWIM, our Home for the Aged, for all these five years.

I remember the first time I met him…

“I caused this on myself,” he said.  (I’m omitting the gasps in between his words.  Or I’ll consume twenty pages for this chapter.) “I’m suffering now because I didn’t have the commitment to stop smoking, even if everyone was telling me to stop.  So I smoked for forty years.  So here I am, paying for it…  Oh, if only I can turn back the hands of time!”

Watching him suffer on his bed makes me think of the young guys and gals smoking today, thinking they’re so cool. I’ll tell them, “Visit Joe for a day–just one day–and see if it’s still cool.  Stare at Joe breathe.  Watch your future before your eyes.”

I’ve realized one thing about life.

You can never escape pain.

But at least, you can choose between two types of pain.

First is the pain of commitment.

Second is the pain of regret.

       The first pain weighs a kilo.

       But the second pain weighs a ton.

       Joe did not choose the pain of commitment.  There were probably many times when he tried to stop.  There were probably many New Year’s resolutions made about quitting cigarettes.  But he wanted to be cool.

       He chose the pain of regret.

       Yesterday, I met another man who didn’t choose the pain of commitment.

       Let’s call him Mark.  Mark abandoned his wife and three kids for a younger woman. 

His wife is devastated.  His kids are confused, angry, and rebellious.

       “I still love my wife, Bo” he told me, “but my feelings for this other girl is something I’ve never felt before…”   And I’m sure the fact that she’s sexier, more touchy, and younger by five years has nothing to do with that incredible feeling of his.

       Mark asked me if what he did was right.

       “You don’t love your wife,” I told him, “because love means choosing the pain of commitment.  Of sticking around for better or worse.”

       I told him that one day, he’s going to have the pain of regret.

       When he sees his kids and grandkids–bearing the scars of his unfaithfulness.  When he sees his wife–and the depth of suffering he gave her.  As an old man, he will look at the devastation he caused–and weep with the sadness of a thousand tears.

       May your dreams come true,

       Bo Sanchez

PS. Do something for your health before it’s too late. On September 27, I will be giving my powerful seminar entitled, How To Heal Yourself Naturally.   For more information on my September 27 Seminar, click here now.

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