The Day I Quit Smoking

It was just abrupt.

I was in the middle of the jungle doing what I love most during that time in my life-hunting. I usually had a pack of cigarettes with me to lessen the cold of the early morning. I had only 2 extra long magazines of 5.56mm ammunition and wearing short denims, barefooted and a fatigue jacket to mold easily with the greenery. Wild pigs are hard to hunt when you wear colorful attire.

I started out from our camp at 4 in the morning and it was already 7 and nothing. I lit a stick of cigarette as I sat down under the big Lawaan tree. Then I realized the mistake I made a long time ago, smoking while hunting. I made that decision then and there. I buried my pack of cigarettes and washed my hands and face with dirt and wet dead leaves. After some 30 minutes of waiting, lying flat on the ground, I lit a match, letting the smoke drift off to see where the wind was going. Then I started to hunt against the wind. After some meters of slow and stealthy movement, I got contact with a big wild boar and I was happy.

From that day until now I never got a smoke again. It is already 28 years from that day of 1989.