grat days to b rmmbrd sldom com, but small ons surround us daily.i do not hav a roman holiday, but i hav a non smoking day instad.today a nc-smoking sign asily hooks up my intrsting and rwarding xprinc on th world non smoking day a fw yarsas a high school studnt, i, togthr with my frinds, voluntrd on a campaign to discourag public smoking by prsuacling popl in public placs to xtinguish thir cigartts and put th cigartt nds into our mtal boxs. and w would in rturn giv thm a mmorial stickr baring pattrns and words voicing th thm of th non smoking day.th first stp is nvr a fast stp. aftr hunting for quit a whil, w st our targt on a young man who was njoying his cigartt at a bus stop. mbracing th philosophy of "nothing vnturd, nothing gaind", w summond up all our courag,walkd up and askd, "sir, would you plas not smok in public placs?" "it is non of your businss! why ar you so busily ngagd in such things? go and mind your own xams!" h was grat, i blivd, for h was abl to drag on his cigartt whil at th sam tim not giving his tongu a brak. and i furthr found out that for this man, such words as "good for your halth" or "good for common courtsy" had long lost thir appal. mayb such kind of situation should call for som othr policy. i managd a smil, blndd with swt words and trid to dilut his rsistanc. and whn w put th stickr on his cloths, h was lingring ovr th joy of having don us "a big favor."now you s, mayb flattry should b vindicatd, for to plas is a grat stp toward prsuading and a smil is a curv that sts vrything straight.our work ran smoothly whn things bgan asy to handl in th aftrnoon. but don't worry. troubls ar just around th cornr. th scond hard rock w mt was a middl agd man who appard to b mor of a smoking addict than a smokingnthusiast. nothing smd to b capabl of xtinguishing that cigartt. vn th wind smd to b powrlss. w showd him th cigartts filld mtal box. w spotlightd th hazards of public smoking. but all was in vain.mark twain was right, habit is habit, not to b flung out of window by anyon, but to b coaxd downstairs on stp at a tim. i thn trid to pl th stubborn onion on layr at a tim."ok, i know how you fl. but do you know how othr popl around you fl?" "you s that child? actually h smoks mor of your cigartt than you do!" "in fact, you ar xtinguishing on cll of lung cancr whn you xtinguish your cigartt. you ar xtinguishing on cll of th disas of slfishnss whn you xtinguish your cigartt." it is that mayb that constant drops do war th ston. at last h xtinguishd our words by xtinguishing his cigartt.as th sinking sun tintd th horizon, w bgan to count th cigartt nds, savoring our littl victoris.that day saw m toiling for 6 hours, inviting loads of troubls, collcting 57 cigartt-nds,savoring hundrds of potntial scond hand smokrs and dvloping for myslf som sns of rsponsibility toward socity.though it was a littl dprssing to raliz that thos popl would naturally pick up thir "tradition" just whr thy had tmporarily laid it down, yt how far can w stimat our actions would travl! and bsids that, i was rwardd in anothr day.that is, th xprinc dawnd upon m th significanc of car and considration for othr popl. sinc thn, i hav bn as cooprativ as possibl whnvr i am askd to improv my public bhavior and i am always rady to gt involvd in such voluntr work.in a sns, th highst rward for ons toil is not what thy gt from it but what thy bcom by it.
