- "Марина Владимировна, вы должны поучаствовать в государственной...

- "Marina Vladimirovna, you must participate in the state program to combat smoking among youth."
- "But I do not like such mass events and performances."
- "These are teenagers from 14 to 22 years old, there will not be many, 30 people. Come and scare them with the harm of tobacco"
- "Ahem ... Be sure to scare? Maybe talk or play?"
- "Oh, what you want. We have a program all week, different specialists come, the task is to hammer them that smoking is harmful"

In general, sluggish attempts to dissuade from participation did not work.
I am writing to the co-therapist:
"Katya, help. Let's go together. I don’t know what to talk about. And I'm afraid."

Extensive thoughts about what you can tell teenagers about smoking came down to the desire to just talk with them and share their own experiences.

We arrived at the school at the appointed time, passed the gaze and stern eyes of the security guard, passport control at the checkpoint, asked where the toilet was, and we received a clear and distinct answer — nowhere, because you are nobody.
I said, "Like no one, we came to torment your children with smoking dialogues, to work, that is, they invited us" ...

Then we were met by the organizer, kindly escorted to the toilet, and then long dark corridors that had not been renovated in the assembly hall for a long time.
“They are good with us and they all smoke without exception,” she encouraged. “You will still have the light. The guys are in practice, therefore only girls. They are fighting, of course, but you are not afraid. We are at the very beginning of them” "(she made a gripping gesture from the bottom up) like, we’ll restrain ourselves so that they are silent.

Persistently, it didn’t work out for me personally. The excitement was strong. True, I do not like to speak in public.

They came in, slightly indifferent, communicating with each other, almost not examining us. They were supervised by three or four instructors (?) Of the supervisor (?)

Girls with the usual challenge threw a question rather among themselves, what, they say, are they going to tell us now? Cancer again? Rotten lungs? A boring lecture?
I said that most likely they already know a lot more than we do.

- "Are you here voluntarily?"
They shrug, someone negatively shakes his head.
I say - "We, too, on this we will have to talk a little more about smoking, since this is such a given topic."
- "What do you already know? What remains in your memory? What did you like? What did you learn new?"
- "Well cancer, aging, blah blah"
In the back rows, a noise began, which quickly broke off with the cry of the teacher (?) Overseer (?)
By the way, they spread out in rows with stern faces that the guys did not look at, but became quieter, and each had its own controlled group.
And then the organizers started taking pictures. The girls in the front rows covered their faces. And then I did not understand what happened, but they were run over and forced to open my face.
"This is not discussed, this is for reporting to the committee."
One girl cried.
I felt sad.

We asked about their smoking experience, talked about their own, talked about the causes, feelings, addictions in general, self-support, about what helps quit smoking and what voluntary choice is.
When I talked about the fact that they have it, I could not get rid of the conflicting feeling that they did not even have the opportunity to refuse to take photographs.
Pressure. Control. Scream.
Both sides are unhappy and both in fear and powerlessness. And no one can do otherwise. And now I pronounce completely unfamiliar words "choice" and "freedom". Compassion for the guys who are no longer resisting, and for the side which even has no illusions that their whole lives are still ahead, and only a report to the committee looms.

When it came to feelings, the right to smoke or not to smoke, the faces of teachers became worse. How so. It is difficult to keep such “difficult” or “special” children within the borders. It threatens self-will and rebellion. Freedom and choice are unfamiliar and dangerous for a system that itself can do nothing but control and suppression. They asked us to scare, to frighten and not to ask about what they want.

While we talked, it became warmer for me, thorns and ruffs fell from the girls, skepticism left. There were more and more interested views. They asked questions. They shared their stories.
And in the end, we asked if there was anything important or new to them, and they nodded. And when we specified what exactly, they answered us: "You TALKED with us."