Does Your World Smell Good?

Does the world smell good?  I’ll tell you, I had never considered the question so it’s ok for you say… ‘huh’?  This question comes from a conversation I had over dinner with my godson and it really did make sense after I listened to him. I have smiled inside ever since I heard him explain that the world smells good. Stay with me on this one.

Scrunching up my nose

I learned over dinner that in Joseph’s mind everything in the world smells good. At least, everything in the world should smell good. He explained his logic to me.  “Trees smell good,” Uncle David. “So does candy. And baguettes.”  Not bread mind you… baguettes. That one made me laugh.

I asked him what happens when there is a bad smell that encroaches on his nice smelling world.  I figured that question would leave him stumped. Wrong. He told me that bad smells make him want to scrunch up his nose and stop the smell. Sounds logical, right?

I kept at my questioning and dug a little deeper on the bad smell answer. This produced the gem I knew had to be within the wonderful mind of a nine-year old.

“What”, I asked, “would happen if the bad smell got to you?”

“Well,” said Joseph, “the bad smell will upset the dream Uncle David.”

It’s like that isn’t it?  Sometimes life will throw you a curveball, a figurative ‘bad smell’.  Quite often things will not go the way you thought they would, could, or should.  As we get older its harder to ‘scrunch up your nose’ and stop that dream from being upset. The truth is the world around us can upset our dream.  But when things don’t go according to plan you should always keep your dream and the plan in mind.  Don’t let any setback that could have been temporary become permanent.  Brush yourself off, breathe deeply, and start again.

The world smells good, according to Joseph, and the world is filled with possibility.  Breathe it in!

Have you ever asked kids why they do some of the quirky things they do? The answers can be surprising and surprisingly insightful. Share your gems in a comment if you have a moment.

photo by: superhua

I live in the Cayman Islands and I'm married to Christina. We have two children, Ryan, attending Northeastern University in Boston, MA, and Taylor, attending University of Leeds in Leeds, UK. I own several businesses in Cayman. My list of 'pasts' include past chairman of the Cayman Islands Special Economic Zone Authority, past president of the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman, and past president of the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce.

Please note: I moderate comments and reserve the right to delete or edit those that are offensive or off-topic.

3 thoughts on “Does Your World Smell Good?

  1. wow….what a special little boy…I can’t stop laughing. May he continue to smell the beauty of the world!

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