Reminiscing about the good times I had in college brought back this memory:
A woman I went to college with- very sweet girl- had basically been abandoned by her parents by the time she enrolled in college. Anyhoo, she was dirt poor, subsiding on donations from local churches for spending money, etc.
Well, Girl X was a very sweet girl and I was glad to be friends with her. However, sometimes she, uh, didn’t smell very good. Although I never mentioned it to her (RUDE), it did make it difficult to be around her sometimes.
I thought about giving her some money and driving her to Wal-Mart so she could buy some toiletries, but that would have embarrassed both of us to no end. So instead I went to Wal-Mart myself, bought a bunch of shampoo, deodorant, soap, etc. for her, and then went back to her dorm building. My plan was to have a girl on her floor just leave it at her door (men aren’t allowed in womens’ dorms where I went to college) and then never mention it again. However, I chickened out and wound up throwing it all away.
I would have given them to her. I agree with you that she may not have had the money for stuff like that. She probably would’ve really appreciated them.
The worst that could’ve happened is that she would’ve been embarrassed.
Never put off the good you can do today-you may not have the opportunity again.
I would have given them to her as well, or taken her shopping to stock up for yourself and asked her if she needed any of that kind of stuff, she may have taken you up on your offer.
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
He weathered a firestorm of agony and did not break.
And while Yori raged against his unbending
courage, we took Kyuden Hiruma back.
His loss is great, but so is the gift his suffering brought.
-Yakamo’s Funeral
Another idea: Buy scented (floral scents, berry scents, etc.) toiletries and give them as part of a birthday or holiday gift. Make a big deal some time beforehand about liking scented soap/shampoo/etc. (e.g. take her shopping with you, sniff everything available and spend several minutes agonizing over which scent of what you like best) and always keep some in plain sight in your room.
I totally agree with Kat, how on earth you think you can tell a girl that she smells and get away with it I do not know, however a nice basket of lotions and stuff for an occasion, such as a birthday, is just a gift and doesn’t tell her that she smells like a skunk, have some sensitivity here guys!
I always wondered about stinky people. Do they not notice, or do they just not care? After riding my bike a few miles, or whatever, I might be a little smelly. I notice it. I wash. Maybe I’m crazy.
I’ve been pretty poor before in my life. But that’s no excuse for not bathing. Tell the pig to take a bath. Poltical correctness is a disease cure it with the truth.