Random Thoughts: The Power of Scents

 They say that scents can trigger our memories far more than the memories of what we saw or heard. I've been wondering why. All our senses are valuable and contribute to our experiences, so why does the sense of smell trump the other senses in regards to accessing our innermost memories? 

When we see something, we see shape, outlines, grooves, shadows, texture, size, and colors, all in different combinations. 

When we hear something, we hear volume, tone, pitch, tempo, crescendo, decrescendo, clarity, and layers of sounds, again in different combinations. 

When we smell something, we do not have as big a variety of measure or description to what we smell. What if the things we smell, subconsciously or consciously, is not just the scent of wood, metal, garlic, or any other association to nature or things. What if what we smell is similar to the sense of sight and hearing? What if there are many different scent particles in different volumes, sizes, intensities, and combinations? And what if those combinations are so unique that we can associate a certain event to the scent we smelled at that moment? 

Some say that they can smell ghosts. I have never smelled ghosts, at least not to my knowledge, but I believe it is possible. 

If some can see ghosts, which is using the sense of sight, and we can hear ghosts, which is using the sense of hearing, why can't we smell ghosts? 

I think people who limit their beliefs to what they can see or hear are two-dimensional because you are disregarding other senses like the sense of smell, touch, perception, balance, and so on. 

Takeaway from this random thought: The sense of scents is underrated. There is probably so much more that we can learn just by studying the many qualities of scents.  

Enraged by the Maui Fires

 I got a new job that I really love. I love being there and doing what I'm doing. The only thing is that I have to drive about an hour each way. It's not bad. I use that time to listen to podcasts and be in the know of current events. 

The recent news about the Maui "wildfires" got me enraged for so many reasons. 

For your information, I DO NOT BLAME NATURE for this. Far from it! 

Climate change my a**! 

The first thing I hear is that there was this huge wildfire that burnt down a beautiful city in Maui but only 80 died. 

My thought was, 'What?! How does a whole city burn with only 80 people dying? I've been to Maui so I know that no matter how small the island, there has to be a lot more people residing there.'

The next thing I hear is that the governor is an enforcer of climate change and practically exalts water like a god. Preserving nature, conserving natural resources, that's all great, but where are your priorities?! What's the point of having great nature if valuable lives are lost? Anyway, I hear that the city delayed emergency response to allow water to be used to stop the fire. That infuriates me enormously. 

Then, from various other sources, I learn that the citizens trying to escape the fire were barricaded in, hence the images of cars in tight assemble with a vast road unventured a few yards away. According to the witnesses, the police that barricaded them repeated over and over that they were just following orders. Orders to do what? To block the residents from escaping the fire? First of all, what police officer in his right mind would obey such an order while seeing what he is seeing? 

Let's give the benefit of the doubt that the people in charge giving orders were ignorant to how bad the situation was and didn't know that evacuation took precedence over chaos and disorder. Let's say that the police officer initially agreed to obey and went on site and drove there to barricade the area. How, I mean how can you possibly let the people burn in flames because of some order you were given? 

Then, while the residents are homeless and mourning over the loss of their beloved ones, investors try to bargain and buy off their land? Does anyone have compassion anymore? 

To make it worse, the media blames the fires to climate change. Do you know why this is bad? It's because this puts a stop to ever finding the real cause of the fire. One of the things that the Lahaina residents probably want most is to find out how and why all this happened. What did they lose everything for? 

I lived in Hawaii for a very long time. It is very humid. It is always raining. That's why it is known for its rainbows. It rains, then sun shines, only to rain again. For fire to catch and spread that fast in that kind of weather cannot be natural. 

Some say it's the powerlines, some say it's an arsonist, some say it's neglect of forest management, and some say it's DEW (Direct Energy Weapon)...it could be a combination of all four, but what I do know is that this was intentional at the expense of valuable lives, especially the lives of children who were at home without their parents. 

We failed to protect the children. We failed to protect our own people. That is what enrages me. 

Is this a land grab scheme? Is this a chance to claim another climate change tragedy? Is this an opportunity to raise donations aka launder money? Is this a strategy to build a Smart City that the residents have resisted? Whatever this is, it was done at the expense of children's lives. I really hope that guilt builds and grows inside the culprits who enabled this, and over time, may that guilt swallow them whole into a black hole of misery.