Smelling Your Own Smell

Having no place else to go, the old bum stretched out on the park bench that afternoon. It was a beautiful day in late spring and he was content. The sun was warm and he was soon fast asleep.

A couple of boys came by and spotted the old man and decided they would have some fun. Popping into a corner market they purchased some limburger cheese and carefully smeared some of it on the old hobo's mustache. He stirred and wrinkled his nose, but did not wake up. The boys watched him for a while, but soon got bored and went off down the street.

The old man slept on for about thirty minutes and then stirred and set up. He wrinkled his nose and looked around him with a puzzled look on his face.

He got up and crossed the grass to the sidewalk. Just then a pretty girl walked past him. He sniffed, wrinkled his face in disgust, and muttered something. There were some beautiful flowers growing in a flowerbed next to the sidewalk. He reached down, picked one, and put it to his nose. He threw it away and swore under his breath.

He crossed the street to his favorite bar. Few people were in there at that early afternoon hour and he plopped down on a stool. "A beer," he said to the bartender. The bartender knew he didn't have any money, but once in a while he would give him one on the house. Something about the old bum appealed to him. He poured the beer and slid it down the counter.

The old man lifted the beer to his mouth, wrinkled his nose, and set the beer down.

"Ain't it awful?" he said.

"What's awful?" said the bartender.

"The whole world smells rotten!"

Moral: If everything stinks, you are probably smelling your own smell.


"Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge." (Jas 4:11)