If I had a loyal readership, which I do not, they would plead with me, which they would not, to write something, anything, about the two-year-old Indonesian boy who is addicted to smoking. So here it is. What I have to say is as edifying as the sight of the two-year-old smoking as if there was no tomorrow.
I know I am supposed to be horrified by this story. Unfortunately I am more entertained than horrified. And I blame the kid for that. He makes smoking at any age look so much fun, cheerful, pleasurable and cool that he makes you forget its consequences. When I first saw the video, I wished someone had stuck a fag in my mouth when I was two. I upbraided my mother for sparing me this child abuse in my childhood.
The boy has natural charisma which his smoking only enhances. It seems he smokes 40 cigarettes a day, prompting his father to testify to his good health. That his son has become a global freak show does not seem to bother his parents. They are even less bothered about the potentially fatal effects of his smoking. From the tone of the snatches of comments one hears in the video, it is almost as if the boy is seen as a celebrity. I caught pantas, which in Bhasha means something good, attractive or healthy. The kid sure looks healthy and in complete control of his surroundings, but the question is for how long.
There are millions of people who have lived a long life despite heavy smoking all their lives. But that does not negate the science that smoking is extremely injurious to health. What is wrong with this particular story is that the boy is being introduced to things which he has no understanding of or the faculties to critically process. In that sense being given a cigarette at his age is quite like being given religion. He has been ambushed even before he has the ability to comprehend either. By the time he comes of age he will be hooked to both—smoking and religion. It is hard to tell which one is more injurious.