Learning it the hard way

I advised him many a times to quit smoking as I was in the anti-cigarette squad. He was my colleague, or more, he was brother to me. He was the person that I always thanked God and I could not afford to see him doing something that was harming his health and others too. But then, he had his justifications.
On that particular day, he stormed off the office telling me that ‘he’s gonna smoke three cigars instead of two.’ (Oh! that was the outcome of my one-hour lecture). And down the office building, he was just about to light his cigarette that a pile of concrete fell over his head. The office building was still under construction and it was one of those safety issues. Our programme director rushed him to the hospital and later he called me to tell that he had nothing but ‘just twelve stitches on the head.’ After all, he was the comedian of our radio station.
Back in the office after two weeks of rest, I noticed that he never took a ‘break,’ other than for his lunch. When asked he said, “The concrete that landed over my head was powerful than your lecture.” And we burst out laughing. Yes, he learned his lesson. It was a tough way to learn.