"Because I'm Stupid!"

Today I read a will in which the grandmother gave a legacy of $1,000 each to her two grandchildren when they turned 25 years old on the condition that they didn't drink alcohol or use tobacco.  If they did they would only get $500 each.

After I read this I thought about a woman who works at the archives.  I see her outside each days having a cigarette.  One day it was raining and I went out the door by our office and almost bumped into her with the door.  She was so apologetic because she was afraid I had to smell her smoke and I told her it was fine.  She talked to me about her (as she called it) nasty habit and then told me that she smoked for years and her son never knew it until he was almost a teenager.  One day she was out behind a building smoking and her son came around the corner and saw her.  He said to her, "Why are you smoking?"  She said without hesitation to her son, "Because I'm stupid!"  I felt so bad for her when she told me this story.  It made me think of my dad who started smoking when he was 12 years old.  He struggled most of his adult life trying to quit and after they joined the church he did quit for a while but soon began to smoke again.  For a number of years I didn't know he smoked because he never smoked in front of us.  I happened to find his ashtray and cigarettes when I was about 13 and then he started smoking in front of us again.  This went on for years.  He tried so hard to stop only to fail over and over again.  After Bill was born and started walking around the furniture he was in the living room and my dad came into the room just as Bill picked up one of his used cigarettes and put it in his mouth.  My dad ran over and got it out of Bill's mouth and then he picked up his pack of cigarettes, the full ashtray and walked outside to the trash can, lifted the lid and threw them away. He never smoked again.  He later became active in the church and he and my mom served a mission in Salt Lake City.

Now back to the will.  As I went through the rest of the folder there was an acceptance of the legacy by the two grandchildren.  They each received $500.  They stated in the acceptance of their legacy that they were not able to fulfill the tobacco clause.