J Bravo's Training For Life

"Variety's the spice of life, that gives it all its flavor."
- William Cowper

As thousands of highway mile markers have flown by and lined our path during this Tobacco Free Florida road tour (16,000+ by the end of the campaign), so have the thousands of faces and personalities illuminated our events, presentations and festivals.

Here is a selection of quotes from various events. Some have been profound, some whimsical, zany or even indecipherable, but nonetheless, they have always served to add seasoning to our events and interactions.

At the Wayne Densch YMCA in Orlando, when one of the kids was given one of our baby-blue "I Care. I Don't Smoke" wristbands: "These smell like strawberry lollipops." Which has also led to the following answers when asked what our bracelets smell like: chicken markers, chocolate flavored lip balm, silly string, peas and old swiss, paint, chocolate cake, .....

At the Santa Rosa County Fair: "I keep tellin' her, all she needs to do to quit smoking is shave her head and suck on a lollipop." When none of us responded to this statement, she reiterated: "I keep tellin' her, all she needs to do to quit smoking is shave her head and suck on a lollipop." As she and her smoker friend walked away, we looked at each other dumbfounded at this logic. But hey, who are we to judge, maybe it works if you're in need of a cheap solution.

Another bizarre quote from Santa Rosa County Fair about smoking: "Animals don't do it, why do humans." My thoughts exactly. That, and the fact that you're a slave to the ball and chain of an expensive addiction might be good reasons to quit.

At the Wal Mart in Destin, FL when we attempted to give one of our booth visitors a free frisbee, "Nah man, I don't even have time to throw a frisbee." He must be one busy man.

At Jacksonville Jazz Fest from a gentleman that started smoking when cigarettes were fifty cents per pack. He was sent to the gas station to buy packs of smokes for his father when he began smoking by proxy: "If you don't stop tobacco, tobacco will stop you."

At Florida Bluegrass Festival, remarks from one of the festival organizers about our street team: "Y'all may not smoke, but you sure are weird." Hey now, we all have very different personalities, but weird? Thats a stake to the heart my friend. *sniff*

Spoken by a 6 year old girl at Girls, Inc., an after school facility / program just for girls in Panama City, FL - she spotted me in the hallway just before we made our presentation to a group of elementary school age girls: "There's a guy in here... I'm going to faint."

At Lake Nona YMCA in Orlando, spoken by a 5 year old girl I was interviewing for one of our video blogs: "I know whats inside a brontosaurus body." "What is that?" we asked. "The same stuff thats in OUR bodies! I know that because I'm a paleontologist." How silly of us, we should have known.

When stopping for gas in Ft. Myers, a gentleman approached me about Tobacco Free Florida, you know, since you can't miss the big baby-blue van even if you wanted to: "I get bored on long trucking trips and have nothing else to do. When I'm at home and I get tired of playing video games, I have nothing else to do." Sigh. What does one say to this? I'm sure there are plenty of volunteer organizations that could use your man hours and you would be enriched in the process versus spending money AND time to more quickly kill time and yourself. Oh the irony.

Sign seen in the weight room of the Lake Nona YMCA in Orlando: "The weight of the world gets lighter with every rep."

So too the weight of the ball and chain of tobacco addiction gets less and less with each day that passes after walking away from having it in your life.

You ARE worth more than a $4 pack of cigarettes. Or can of dip. Or pouch of tobacco.

1-877-U-CAN-NOW can also help lighten the load of quitting tobacco with free counseling towards helping you schedule a time and a date to really make your quitting a reality. Between April and May 15th, Tobacco Free Florida has generated 11,000 calls to this hotline. More than the total of all calls placed to the hotline in the previous 9 years. What is YOUR quit date?

Tobacco free is the way to be.

You can quote me on that.

Have a strong day.

TFFL out.

# posted by Bravo : 10:26:00 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

TFFL Episode 3 | Hope

Dum spiro, spero
"While I breathe, I hope”
- Latin Proverb

The Tobacco Free Florida Street Team has a prize wheel. This is of course a much sought-after wheel as the prizes issued for spinning the wheel and answering the questions are from our Spring 2008 Tobacco Free line and are limited-edition, not available in stores items. What a day it is when the wheel turns and the answers to the trivia questions begin to flow!

The options on the wheel include various tobacco trivia questions and between each trivia question is another, somewhat more personal, option that allows the guest wheel-spinner to simply tell us why they care - why they don't smoke.

The answers given by children range from the typical to the typical and that is fine by us, as they are just grasping what it means to make positive decisions. The most common answer that they can provide is “you can die” along with comments about smell, bad teeth, lungs, etc.

Sometimes, when the wheel lands on trivia our guests with more life experience will reluctantly answer the question but clearly they have something else to say, and of course we don't rush them away.

The hesitation to leave after answering the general-knowledge trivia question, in most cases, is their desire to tell us why they care - why they don't smoke. When prompted, the answers and reasons are far-reaching, but they all have one thing in common. A loss, a tragedy, a situation that threw their lives into upheaval that caused them to take stock of what is really important.

Throat cancer. Small cell lung cancer. Esophogeal cancer. Death.

A father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband or wife was invariably affected. And a piece of their heart and soul – their very being – was ripped out. Forever.

But out of tragedy, good things can grow. The decision to end an unhealthy habit or the decision to not start a less than desirable habit can both be results of someone passing through one of life’s rough patches.

Its difficult to see past today sometimes. Each day brings enough challenges of its own that to plan for a week, month, year or a lifetime ahead brings uncertainty and no guarantees. Sometimes it may seem like the deck of life isn’t dealt in your favor, but you can take steps to stack your OWN deck in your favor by taking steps to better yourself and those around you.

What a day it is for you and for us when the wheel turns. Make it a day for the record books. You won’t get it back.

Have a strong day.

TFFL out.

# posted by Bravo : 9:55:00 AM 0 comments

tobaccofreeflorida.com | video blog | #2

This is the second installment of the Tobacco Free Florida Street Team Video Blog. From the Clay County Fair.

# posted by Bravo : 9:54:00 AM 0 comments

TFFL Episode 2 | Passion

Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.

- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Let it not be said that the Hispanic culture is lacking in passion. I’ve always known this to be true - at least from a distance - that this passion runs deep in the Latino community. But after experiencing firsthand Miami’s own “Calle Ocho” festival, deep in the heart of Little Havana I know this to be true.

The conglomeration of sights (1,000,000 people of all backgrounds), sounds (many infectious genres of music) and tastes (dishes that cause the mouth to water at first reaching your olfactory nerve) created a veritable cornucopia of Latino life not often found all in the same place at the same time.

Let it also not be said that an anti-tobacco campaign doesn’t evoke passion from both sides of the debate - both of which I enjoy seeing greatly. The passion that is so exuded by those that argue the pro-tobacco side of the issue is most certainly the same passion that they will tap into when the time arrives that they finally decide that for their sake and the sake of everyone around them that they need to quit tobacco.

They will then work towards freeing themselves from that habit with the same gusto that they have used to argue that they have the right to that habit in the first place. And as addictive as the additives are in tobacco products, that same gusto is absolutely going to be as necessary as the three rocket boosters that cause the space shuttle to have enough force to escape the earth’s gravity. Even the space shuttle can overpower the bond of gravity with enough determination. So too can someone be freed from this habit.

At Bike Week in Daytona, we met a guy whose father died of lung cancer from smoking cigarettes yet he was still smoking and by looking into his eyes you could tell he genuinely didn’t want to be. The habit and addiction is so strong that not even the gut-wrenching life-altering pain of losing a loved one has been able to sway him from his self-destructive habit – YET.

The addiction to nicotine is something I cannot identify with. But as we are out and about, make no mistake, we aren’t here to preach to or condemn tobacco users. We accept people at the intersection of our paths at an event and we care enough not to leave them there if they truly want to make a positive change.

We’ve engaged in conversation with those who want to quit or are in the process of quitting. We’ve talked with those who have quit but are still using the patch to help balance their moods as nicotine has affected them that severely that they don’t want to be a burden to their families due to mood swings from withdrawal.

Part of our team recently went to a YMCA in Ocala. While there, they encountered a rehab group, which included people that were there for various reasons. They all thought Qwitter (http://qwitter.tobaccofreeflorida.com) was a great idea because it is based on the support-group premise – and they all know first-hand what it means to need support to overcome something.

One man in this group had received two DUI’s and was on the verge of losing his license. But he loves riding his motorcycle too much and isn’t going to let anything get in the way of something he cared about.

So can be the case with tobacco usage keeping us from hurting our loved ones just by seeing us chained to that habit. If tobacco-usage is as innocuous as the peer-pressure and advertisements have made it seem, then why is it always such a stake to the heart of friends and loved ones when the habit begins – and continues. W. Edwards Deming said, “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” If we are true to ourselves and don’t allow our pride to get the best of us, we can make this positive change and we can survive to live full lives of impact for the betterment of this world.

We welcome ALL of your comments and all means all. Good, bad or indifferent.

Write about our website.
Write about our videos.
Write about or respond to our blogs.
Write about our television and radio commercials.
Write about our magazine ads, newspaper ads, billboards, flyers, bracelets, temporary tattoos, beach balls, Frisbees and stickers.
Write about tobacco legislation.
Write about your rights.
Write about your freedoms to engage in activities you’re legally allowed to engage in.

There is no page limit and your parents, mentors, professors and teachers would be proud that you’re fulfilling Florida’s mandated Gordon Rule – even if it isn’t done during class-related time.

When you write about these topics or tell us how you feel in person, we know you’re out there and we know you’ve heard.

You won’t hurt our feelings because we know the seed of tobacco-freedom has been planted.

The first step on the ladder is often the most difficult.

We’ll be there with a hand up.

Have a strong day.

TFFL out.

# posted by Bravo : 9:52:00 AM 0 comments

tobaccofreeflorida.com | video blog | #1

This is the first installment of the Tobacco Free Florida Street Team Video Blog. From Daytona Beach.

# posted by Bravo : 9:51:00 AM 0 comments

TFFL Episode 1 | Change