I suppose all of us have at sometimes smelled the fumes from a big diesel engine. It is the most unpleasant smell. In Philadelphia, where a great many diesel transit buses operate, an effort was made to "Sweeten" these obnoxious fumes by placing a small quantity of a certain chemical in the exhaust system. It worked very well, and the fumes came out with a pleasant fresh smell. However, this presented a still more serious problem, for although the fumes were no longer obnoxious, they were still highly dangerous. With the odor removed, however, people rather liked the smell of the fumes, and didn't hesitate to take a good deep wiff of them. I thought when I read this, that there was a real lesson here, for are we not all guilty of trying to "Sweeten" the real problems of living. Look at our rate of alcoholism. Look at the number of nervous breakdowns we have. Look at the people who each year require treatment for mental disorders. I feel we would have less of these problems if people could learn not to "Sweeten" the hard, brutal facts of life and living… if they could see situations not as they wish they were, but as they ARE. It takes a lot of courage to face up to squarely unpleasantness, but if one is to be honest with oneself, it has to be done. There is no use treating the leaves of a plant, if it's the roots that are ailing, yet we don't all do that in our lives. We try to hard to keep the bloom on the rose even as we neglect the roots. Don't just "Sweeten" the things in life you know are wrong, because there really isn't any solution in the escapes of alcohol, drugs, high living or running away. Look at the situation square in the face, hard as it may be. You may find you stand all alone, but at least you stand in honesty.
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