Bad Breath: Humanity's Inhumanity to Humanity

Before writing this, I craftily asked a few people whether my breath stinks because I wouldn't want to write against myself.

Yesterday, I boarded a small commuter bus on a seven-hour trip to Abuja. Due to the fact that I wanted to arrive the nation's capital before noon, I left the house at 5.30 am. But before I did, I made sure that apart from taking my bath, I brushed my teeth.

Granted, no one could have taken a quick breakfast at such an early hour, but for Christ's sake, do you also have to forget the very personal act of brushing one's teeth. I did mine, hoping that my other co-travellers would be so magnanimous, how wrong I was!

The young man sitting beside me, with a very clean dress, oozed of a two-day remains of bad breath. You know, that kind of smell that turns your stomach and makes you wonder whether it is from the mouth or from the anus! Whichever it comes from, they are both deadening and suffocatingly obnoxious to one's nose. Reminds me of the day someone messed the air in a train on my way to Antwerp. Being the only black man in that coach, and I am sure I wasn't the one that did that (of course, I know the trademark smell of mine), I was wondering which of the white people looking at us (my Tunisian friend and I) could have blatantly allowed his or her anus to mess the air in a train that has sealed windows!

Back to my original story, on perceiving the very first dose of it (the guy's bad breath), I made sure that I, either knowingly or unknowingly, stirred up no conversation. But this guy failed to be that considerate for others. He dozed off and in the process kept his lips wide open, to ensure that with every breath he took, that my nasal cavity was assaulted with damning dosages of his foul breath. Out of anger, I got my phone out and took a very good shot of this assault, but for obvious reasons, I may not be able to share it with you yet! 

I was lucky I was seated by the window and for the first time I felt like a small god because from my side I could determine the amount of fresh air that can come in to those seated at the back and by me. There were different versions of foul breath also depending on who talked: the older man sitting directly behind me, who obviously did not take his bath, the man seated beside him sporting a very clean white kaftan but with an unbelievable bad breath, and the one beside me of whom I have told you! This concatenation of foul breaths made that journey an unpleasantly memorable journey for me.

To punish them for being very inconsiderate of others, I made sure that the glass remained permanently in the position that the air that gets in comes to my nostrils first. I cannot be paying for the sins of other people for nothing!

How much does it cost to brush one's teeth. If you enjoy the way it tastes when you don't brush, how sure are you that others share in your joyous paradise of bad breath. Abeg, consider other people when next you want to go out in public. I think that there should be a legislation of some sorts against this kind of deliberate pollution of the air! Same goes for all these people that eat garlic and enter the public arena oozing of that suffocating smell.

Please consider others! Avoid bad breath, raw garlic and take control of your messes for crying out loud! I've taken a firm decision: any time I am travelling in a bus, if I am not sitting by a window I can open or close, I will travel another day or in another bus!