Society Debate: Would you tell your friend they stink?

Why not? There is an African proverb that says; “when you share a bed with a hunchback, tell him to push up lest you fall off the bed.” It may sound mean and uncaring but at least he will not keep shoving it onto you as you sleep. The same applies to friends, who consistently harass you with their terrible breath and/or smelly clothes. Personally, I believe that we are in people’s lives for a reason, sometimes it is to save them from an accident or to bail them out of prison… and sometimes, it is simply to tell them to stop smelling in public! To tell you the truth, stinking in public is primary school behaviour! After two hours of soccer, my friends and I would be forced to shower. All we did was wash our feet, sprinkle some water in our hair and stomach to appear as if we had showered. We still got away with it anyway because we were young and our hormones were not that active.Unfortunately, you find a fully mature adult still employing the same tactics hoping that they will work; well, wake up my friend. It is common knowledge that if you don’t take a shower for a day, other people will smell the carbon from your armpits no matter how many deodorants you apply. On top of that, water, scientifically known as H2O, is one of the cheapest and most wasted resources. It is not a myth, but rather a reality, that when someone splashes it all over their body while using soap, they will be clean and will not smell in public.But you find someone debating about bathing and believing that three days without a shower is secretive enough not be spilled out in public. No matter how much people don’t talk about it in your presence; you will surely become the biggest subject when you leave. And this is not news because, in the whole world all over, smelly people are backbitten and ridiculed. So, if you are confident that you have never heard anybody talk about the garlic garden in your mouth, think again. Sometimes I wonder, don’t smelly people smell themselves? As in, they are always with themselves everywhere they go, so if there’s anybody they irritate, it must be they. How long must it take before they get to that point of saying, “guys, I think I have smelled enough for you; I better take a shower!”? As a friend to someone who stinks, and I mean, a true friend, its better to tell them; it is better than them finding out the hard and embarrassing way from other people.I will not care whether they get mad at me for a year; I will tell it to their face that they smell, and not just smell, but stink, like bad fish. In the long run, they will clean up and people will no longer disappear from us whenever we hang out. I am positive that they will be grateful when they remember what I told them and how it changed their lives. mugishaivan@yahoo.com