4 August 2004

A question in the form of an answer

You know how when you smell something bad you always try to figure out where it's coming from? And so you smell harder in all directions to get the scent. After a while you loose the scent and have to try all over again because the smell couldn't have gone away on its own. It's more likely that you've just grown accustomed to it and can't smell it any more. Which should be OK, but what if the smell's coming from you?

What then, smart guy?

Maybe it's not ... can't anyone smell that? And you should be happy if others don't notice anything, because then if it is coming from you then nobody'll care. They can't smell anything--why should they care?

But maybe, if it's not that trash can or some such nonsense someone tracked through the hallway, maybe it's a mental illness. Didn't Oliver Sacks study some weird people who smelled colors or heard texture or something like that? If there's no odor at all, it's gotta be some neuralgia or agnosia? Doesn't it?

But can't dogs smell cancer? Or was it just fear?

(file under: gotta-write-something-today)

[ posted by sstrader on 4 August 2004 at 3:14:32 PM in Misc ]