Smoking is having a cultural comeback. My dad's death will never make cigarettes cool.

The author (not pictured) feels strongly against smoking becoming popular again. Elisaveta Ivanova/Getty Images My father died from lung cancer after years of smoking. Cigarettes have always represented loss rather than glamour to me. The return of smoking as a trend is difficult to watch. Smoking is somehow inexplicably cool again, and I'm not happy about it. After a period of health-conscious stigma, it is now viewed as culturally acceptable and even desirable to be seen holding a cigarette in one's hand. It signals sophistication, a rebellious attitude, and undeniable coolness. Newsweek reported on a " cigarette renaissance " among Gen Z , a trend that makes me upset and confused, and is hard not to take personally. I never had even the slightest desire to participate, because, for me, cigarettes represented something far more sinister — death. And I was too afraid to ever try one.