WorldRecordChaseBlog.com

Indonesia’s weakness

And youth are learning the game: as I work away on my 101st world record attempt, I’m finding that they hold split opinions. As I delivered this notice to the local school which I’d made out of 2,500 cigarette butts I picked up off littered roads and paths in inhabited areas of jungle, kids flocked to watch. Some disapproved deeply; my guess is that their families are ardent smokers, or perhaps they smoke themselves. Others shook my hand encouragingly and tried their best to read the English text on health and the environment which teachers will explain.

My concern is not for the numerous smoking kids – I’ve expended considerable energy, sometimes while being giggled at and sniggered at, trying to convince them to give up their stinking habit. Now they must decide if it’s worth the risk. I worry for those children who’re aware of the dangers of smoking.

Indeed, as I walked along a village road one day, plucking butts off the gravel with my gloved hand, a young student of 9 or so asked me trustingly to protect Indonesia from smoking so she and all her fellow Indonesians can live a healthy life. The emotion hit me straight away; I nearly burst into tears as I gazed into her wide, innocent eyes. But I dared not tell her the likely truth: unless the Indonesian Government takes responsibility for blocking a product that’s killing its own, she may well die in a body riddled with smoking-caused cancer.

The least I can do as my part in tackling Indonesia’s great weakness is pointing out the dangers of this filthy addiction. And to nudge me along is the lure of a world record title if I succeed at producing hundreds of such educational materials in the boondocks of Borneo.

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