Yesterday evening I was presented with another reminder of the subtle ways in which dissatisfaction can arise and was offered the opportunity to reflect on the nature of suffering.
We went to a dance performance at my step-daughter’s high school. It’s a magnet school for the arts, and the performance was first-rate. The environment, though, was uncomfortable throughout. What was troublesome for me was the perfume the girls around me wore. The cloud of competing scents was so thick at times, I felt I could see it as I would a fog rolling in off the ocean. It’s a mystifying behavior.
It’s not that I’m mystified only by the use of perfume by some females. Humans in general display a lot of baffling behaviors (car stereos that create minor earthquakes come to mind). But I do wonder why some girls – and grown women, too – believe that dousing themselves with unpleasant odors makes them more attractive. Attractive to whom, I’m not sure. Of course, I know, unpleasant is a judgment on my part. But it’s not a unique judgment.
I once worked in an environment where the receptionist wore heavy perfume. Many on the staff complained among themselves about it, but never took it up with the woman. A supervisor from another department said it should be addressed directly. “Wouldn’t you tell her if she had a bit of food stuck between her teeth?” Everyone agreed, but people don’t generally stick food between their teeth in the belief that it makes them more attractive.
On these spring mornings, I awaken to pleasant yet competing sounds of birds singing. Birds, I think, are communicating with others of their own species, staking out their territories for the day. Last evening I had the impression these girls were saying with their scents, “Smell me!” “No, smell me!” No, me! My smell is better!”
People generally are repelled by others with offensive body odor, a result of poor on nonexistent hygiene. Yet there is something odd about the practice of putting on odors that others find offensive. It’s obviously just fine for the girls trying to make a statement or attract someone’s attention. I know it’s not my attention they are trying to attract, but, too me, perfume is people repellent.
