When
Linda started pointing out to her then boyfriend
Rez that his smelly smoking habit was not good
for him, little did either of them know that
they were laying the groundwork for what would become
a lifelong mission.
The couple, now married 19 years, started a Palm
Beach Gardens-based nonprofit organization called
Smoke Free Society.
The backbone of the organization is the book Rez
wrote in 1985 detailing how he quit smoking without
medication, patches or hypnosis.
The recently updated version is called Proven
Stop Smoking Technique and
they will gladly give it to you for free, but they
prefer that you put your money where your mouth
and lungs are and make a donation to the organization.
The price of a carton of cigarettes seems about
right. "A carton of cigarettes costs around
$35. That would be a nice donation," said Rez,
an artist who met Linda when she came to work for
his graphic design firm in Silver Spring, Md., in
1982. The couple moved to Singer Island in 1986,
when Rez decided it was time to focus more on his
artwork. His brother took over operation of the
design shop and the Seyedins moved south, where
Linda got a writing job and Rez painted and sold
his art.
Several months ago, a friend who smokes approached
Rez about his book and Rez gave him a copy. Then
he got to thinking: Wouldn't it be great if
he and Linda could devote themselves full-time to
the cause of promoting a smoke-free society.
Linda was intrigued, but not convinced. "It
was really hard to quit a good paying job,"
she said. As it turns out, she didn't have to
make a difficult decision about whether or not to
quit her job. She got laid off. "I think this
was meant to be," she said.
The two acquired office space in Palm Beach Gardens,
and started making their way through the paperwork
required to become a 501c(3) nonprofit organization.
Rez publishes the book himself and recently produced
1,000 copies.
They are putting their hearts and souls into this
business, and especially want to get the word out
to children not to start smoking. He
is a walking dictionary when it comes to smoking
statistics and is still shocked when he looks at
the numbers, not only of smokers, but of dollars
spent on smoking and the amount of time spent smoking.
For example, if it takes 5 minutes to smoke a cigarette
and you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, you are spending
11 of your waking working hours each week engaged
in smoking. After 10 years, you have spent 760 days
smoking. At $5 a pack, you'll spend more
than $18,000 on cigarettes after 10 years. "It's
overwhelming," he said.
Rez quit smoking after 20 years by weaning himself
off nicotine slowly, on a 17-day schedule. Smoking
becomes automatic, he said. You pour a cup of coffee,
you light a cigarette. You get in the car, light
a cigarette, finish a meal, light a cigarette.
Rez's method makes you schedule when you smoke,
and it requires you to smoke a little less each
day for 17 days.
The Seyedins need help with their venture and are
asking the community to join forces with them. They
need parents, teachers, medical professionals, researchers,
writers, Web designers and former smokers to volunteer
just a couple of hours each week.
"That adds up,"
said Rez. Wednesday, August 4, 2004
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