There used to be a great product for removing scuff marks from shoes. When you consider that a good pair of women’s shoes cost the equivalent of a BMW, a good scuff remover is a must-have accessory. Unfortunately they’re off the market, because teenagers were buying them to sniff the contents and get high.
Bill Cosby mentioned in his comic routine that kids are brain damaged. They develop at such an astounding rate, they don’t know what they’re doing half the time. This fact, however, is no excuse for drug abuse. It’s a shame that perfectly good products go away because they have huffing potential.
But then, what do I know? I don’t smoke or drink, nor have I felt the urge to try taking a deep breath of some chemical to see if my world looks better with toxic fumes swirling in my brain.
Let me qualify the smoking part. Back in junior high, I and a few cohorts got hold of some cigarettes and had at them. Later, alone, I lit one up, but after seeing myself in the mirror holding it, I thought I looked completely idiotic. Actresses like Bette Davis could blow smoke rings and make it look sexy. I’m not Bettte Davis by a mile. Such was my career as a smoker: not starting meant I didn’t have to quit.
I never could grasp the concept of artificial happiness brought on by synthetic compounds. Sure, perfume is cool, but a scent doesn’t define people any more than shoe scuff remover can make life seem better by inhaling its odor. We are so obsessed with our sense of smell that we overbathe and underplay how much odor can tell us. Dogs can be trained to sniff out bedbugs, and we can know there is a fire at home by smelling smoke not caused by cigarettes. We know dinner is on the stove (or microwave), the factory down the street is busy, or the seashore is minutes from our anxious bare toes. Who needs to inhale chemical crap?
Spend one day just smelling life. It’s better than anything in a bottle.
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