Have you ever heard this little ditty? “Beans, Beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot. The more you toot, the better you feel. So eat those beans with every meal.” Granted, not a very high-brow approach to today’s blog topic, but it does draw attention to the power of one of our five senses. So does the short little video clip above. SMELL is a very pervasive sense. We are not like sharks that can smell a drop of blood up to a quarter of a mile away (americanoceans.org), or like a dog that can sniff out drugs, an on-coming seizer, or even a cancerous tumor, but nevertheless most humans can smell many types of odors. Sometimes smells are pleasant, and sometimes they are not.
We often use the analogy of smell to make a point, like “I smell a rat”, or “That smells fishy.” Do we actually SMELL the rat, or fish? No, it’s just a saying drawing attention to the fact that in our opinion something just doesn’t seem right. Over the last few years, as a society, we have been trained to avoid wearing perfumes or colognes in public, as they could possibly trigger an allergic response in a few others nearby. Some who eschew avoiding other’s discomfort, have been known to engage in what has been called “crop-dusting”, where the perpetrator expels “gas” in a store aisle as other unsuspecting shoppers cruise on through the SMELL. Cheap thrills at another’s expense. Regardless of your concern or disregard for another, some SMELLS are uniformly agreed to as disgusting. Most “poops” are foul smelling, whether coming from humans or animals. One flower, the “Corpse Flower”, that blooms once every seven to nine years, “reeks of rotting flesh and death”. (livescience.com.) Many will flock to see and smell it because of its uniqueness. Most rotting food is abhorrent to all. It’s God’s way of telling us it’s probably not safe to eat. An odiferous warning.
We mention all of this to set the foundation for our blog topic today. It is obvious that some SMELLS are disgusting and are worthy of our efforts to avoid. However, some SMELLS have been so pervasive that over time, we have become accustomed to them. A smoker’s house will be permeated with the smell of smoke, in the walls, ceilings and flooring. Over time, it will become imperceptible to the smoker in the house. But for the non-smoker who enters the house, the SMELL will be obvious. For those who work in fragrant shops, it is likely that over time, they too will no longer notice the SMELL. Just like one, who through routine, has become accustomed to simple tasks of life and no longer needs conscious thought for its task completion, so too do humans, and more specifically our Nation’s citizens, become accustomed to pervasive influences.
Unfortunately, our great Nation has been subjected to an onslaught of the SMELL of prejudicial influences over the last several decades. Our Nation fought a Civil War to end slavery, fought and won the women’s suffrage movement, among many other less noticeable battles, but the seeds, the SMELL, of resentment, restitution, and retribution endure today. Many in charge of our institutions of learning and in current positions of governmental power have stoked these simmering seeds of discontent, some for political, financial, ideological and/or egotistical reasons. More tragically, some even seek to supplant our Nation’s Constitution believing it to be a deterrent to democracy. Through these last few decades many of our citizens have gotten used to the SMELL OF PREJUDICE. The SMELL has permeated our society. Many don’t know where the SMELL came from, or even if it still exists.
We are all AMERICANS! We have all been entrusted with the care of this great Nation, one that provides FREEDOM and LIBERTY to all. Why would any of us desire to live with the SMELL of yesterday. As legitimate Americans, we have more in common than what separates us. Sometimes we are more critical of family and friends that are closest to us, yet we will smile and say “Hi” to a complete stranger on the street. As a Nation we overcame the “Great Depression” (1929-1939), and the terrible “Dust Bowl” (1930-1936). We unified as a Nation after our Nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. We did the same after the attack on our Nation in New York on September 11, 2001. In 1969 our Nation landed two Americans on the moon. Our Nation brought the USSR to its financial knees throughout the 1970s and 1980s, finally watching its collapse in 1991. These are just a few of our Nation’s historical events that have unified us as Americans, yet some still SMELL PREJUDICE, even long after its demise. For those that have lived too long in the SMELL of prejudice produced by self-serving elites and institutions, they can no longer recognize that the SMELL of prejudice that pervades them is an aberration. They have been deluded to think that it continues to exist. FREEDOM and LIBERTY need to be brought to those who remain trapped in the SMELL OF PREJUDICE. Your vote for a change in our National leadership is one of the first steps you can take to do your part.
There is a stench in our Nation, the SMELL OF PREJUDICE. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14; NIV.)