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A man on the sidewalk asked me for a light. He had a fresh cigarette dangling in his mouth. I saw him from afar and considered crossing to the other side of the street because he seemed strange. When I looked him in the eyes, he looked like one of the happiest people I’d seen in a long time.

I said “Sorry, I don’t have a light” and continued on.

I imagined what  Dr. Wayne Dyer would say to this man. Wayne might have been inspired by the joy in the man’s face and said “Ya know smoking’s hard, why do you do it?”

Wayne would have probably had a full conversation with the man and maybe even left an impression, causing him to look at his addiction in a new light. However, it’s usually not my way to start giving advice to a stranger on the street, sidewalk, whatever. I continued on.

A few minutes went by as I went on my walk. I hit a crosswalk and noticed on the ground was a bright red lighter. This bright red lighter was the exact thing the stranger just asked me for. What an odd coincidence I thought and continued on.

After a few seconds, I felt the urge to go back for that lighter. Imagine if it worked and I actually was able to give it to the guy. I could then have a conversation with the man about the difficulties of smoking. I went back and picked the lighter up off the ground. I flicked it and it didn’t work.

Figures, I said and tossed it aside on someone’s lawn. I proceeded to walk to the end of the street. Instead of going around the block like I’d planned, I decided to go back the way I came so I could get that lighter.

I thought about how I would give it to the man on the sidewalk.  It would be my way of pointing out the difficulties of smoking, we’d have a laugh about the fact it didn’t work, then I’d continue on.

Maybe the man would get pissed off at me and want to kick my ass. Hmmmm, I guess you never know how someone’s going to react. In any case, I would approach him with caution knowing I had my ammo in my pocket, the little red lighter I found.

I continued on to the place he was, the but the man was gone. The best that I could do was leave the red lighter standing on it’s end on the sidewalk. Better than nothing, maybe my message would be found. Somehow though, it didn’t feel quite like it would be.

Glad I have the means to blog about this experience and let any of you struggling smokers out there know that there’s an excellent bit about why smoking is more difficult than not smoking in the disc Making Your Thoughts Work for You by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer; Byron Katie

Buy it off this link and you’ll be doing me the favor of donating a couple bucks. So if you or anyone you know is interested in quitting smoking or any other addiction for that matter, you should give this one a try.

On the flipside, I also felt inspired to write 3 alternative endings to the above (true) story:

• I leave to go for a walk down the same street the next day, but this time I take a lighter with me. The man is there but already smoking a cigarette. I pull out a green lighter and light it in front of him. He laughs and says, “Need a smoke, it’s my last one” “No thanks I would say, glad that it’s your last one” and continue on.
• The man is actually at the bus stop and I see him get on the bus. Omnisciently speaking, The bus driver would ask the man to extinguish his cigarette. The man throws it on the ground and stomps it out. Then the bus driver points to a sign that says fine for littering $50. The man picks it up and comes his direction to throw it away but there is only a recycling bin (no trash). The bus driver says you’ll have to hold on to your own cigarette butt. He puts the stinking ashed cigarette in his pocket and comes to realize that smoking really is more difficult than not smoking.
• Considering the “stranger danger” scenario, I approach the man with a lighter and flick it. The man pulls out a gun and a knife and says “choose which way you want to die”. I point to the cigarette in his mouth and say “Not that way”.

If you have some more ideas for how things could pan out in this situation, please feel free to leave them in the comments.