Doesn't the rain smell kind of like forgiveness?
Like after a bad day. A pleasant, unexpected shower washes it away.
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Wet asphalt smells forgiving?
Huh.
Welcome to Fluther. :)
Yes! Yes, it does. I love the rain, even at the end of a long, long rainy season, and I always love the smell of it when it starts. (Even on asphalt, Dave, but especially on dirt.) But I had never thought to associate that smell with an abstraction before. This conceit strikes a resonant chord with me.
I really like this perspective. :) One of the reasons I love living in the greater pacific northwest and all of its rain… it bathes the world clean for a moment, and soaks it with life.
I like the question and I love the smell of the earth and road after a rain. It cleans the air. During rain, the oil petrichor is released into the air along with another compound, geosmin, producing the distinctive scent.
I don’t think it smells like forgiveness, but it does smell lovely.
@3or4monsters Hello Monsters! Nice to see you here. I just joined.
@petethepothead I think it smells like a little forgiveness from mother nature. Either way, I love the smell.
It smells like childhood.
@Jeruba I love the rain also. It renews life. Mother nature’s forgiveness.
@Russell_D_SpacePoet It has a special smell for me…it smells like fear and apprehension and relief all rolled into one.
That line of thinking goes along with how I feel about rain, like it cleans everything – you start out fresh, again.
@cak Like after you’ve been forgiven. You start out fresh. Renewed.
Smells more like depression to me.
I believe exactly that. But I don’t think of it as forgiveness as much as a healing cleansing.
I was at an event once. It was after some horrible American tradgedy (cept I can’t remember which). And there was a poetic speaker who had been scheduled to speak. She came to speak and just then it started pouring down rain. The audience was all outside. And she said something to the effect “i’m glad it’s raining now, the Earth can use this cleaning after all that has happened”. And since then I’ve always thought of rain as a way to wash away the negativity. And in my culture we also believe water can be used to wash away negativity (and is significant for other reasons of course).
Lovely Question. I deeply think rain and water should be respected.
@cak Exactly how I feel!!
@RedPowerLady Every eloquently put. I too feel the same way about water and rain. :)
@RedPowerLady I feel the same way about the rain and the water. I feel a spiritual connection with them. Awesome answer. Thank you
@loser It doesn’t bring that to me. More like renewal.
I understand @loser‘s point of view. While I love the smell of rain (particularly right after it’s over), the rain itself can bring me down very quickly.
@augustlan I understand totally that view. I feel for people that get the “blues” form the rain. I wish I could better share with them the pleasure it brings me.
If it smelled like forgiveness, I would’ve stood under it a looong time ago.
@May2689 As well you should! We should all take the time to smell the roses and most definitely, walk in the rain. Or dance in it. Whatever your preference.
@May2689 It is never, ever is too late. It does a body and mind good.
Rain smells like sadness to me.
To me it’s a cleansing fresh smell…that I love.
To truly forgive is a cleansing experience so it would make sense.
Hmmm. The very first drops of summer rain on an asphalt road remind me of my childhood in Florida (where it rained at 4pm every afternoon). But that’s about it. Lovely question, though.
Rain smells like renewal to me.
Hmmm…...no, i’ve never thought such a thing before. It does smell good though! Rain is my favourite weather. :)
@Maldadpermanente The rain affects many people that way. I can somewhat see that point of view. Although, It’s hard to see how something that renews and gives life, like rain does, could make someone sad. I feel for you.
@Zen Hello Zen. Thanks for the welcome. Good to see you here.
@syz So, your neighborhood was renewed every day at 4…Cool..Love Florida…
@JellyB Hello JellyB! Good to see you here. I love the rain also. I’ll stand out in the rain if it’s warm enough outside.
A hail storm came through here Sunday. Very exciting. Didn’t smell like forgiveness, though. Then again, perhaps it is still too cold for forgiveness.
I think forgiveness can be smelled on a warm spring morning, just after the first grass has been cut the night before. The streets are empty and you can hear the sound of insects in the air. The rain has just ended, and the streets are clean. That’s when I can smell forgiveness. And not a second before;-)
@daloon After the rain of course. Hail can put a damper on a walk in the rain.
@Russell_D_SpacePoet: despite that, several people were walking down my street sans umbrella (ella, ella) being pelted by hail the size of peas. Perhaps they were in a forgiving mood?
FGS explained it perfectly, what I couldn’t put into words, when he said “it smells like fear and apprehension and relief all rolled into one.”
I always feel a little anxious but relieved and at peace when it rains, it is quite a weird feeling.
Sometimes the rain has a different affect and it makes me feel sad or like I could cry all day.
@daloon Perhaps they were punishing themselves. So they could later forgive themselves.
@Kelly27 Hello Kelly. The rainy day blues have never been that for me. I know one thing though, if you cry and don’t want anyone to notice, it’s best to stand in the rain while crying.
@Russell “if you cry and don’t want anyone to notice, it’s best to stand in the rain while crying.”..that’s makes me sad to read that.
I have this feeling that if you cry in the rain, you will dissolve into the ground as if pushed under by a locomotive.
@daloon The rain is perfect to cry under it, you can do it in plain sight but your tears are washed away before being noticed.
@daloon Crying in the rain is like a secret sadness.
It is being very ‘forgiving’ here today, and of course it’s got me feeling down. Gray, cold, and wet. I’m trying very hard to forgive the weather, and turn my attitude about it around.
@augustlan :) Made me laugh. Look at it this way. If you were in the desert, you would be soooo glad it was raining.
It’s a perfect day to visit a potato chip factory!
Eating chips fresh from the fryer is so much different from taking them, days or weeks later, out of a bag.
Yeah, I love the rain. All kinds. It’s like the sky reaching out for the earth. Somewhat like kissing. And sometimes forgiveness. It’s the only real weather in a sense. What is normally called good weather, is the absence of it.
I never thought about it that way. I guess that is the difference between a poet’s thinking and an engineer’s.
Considering the idea that after a summer rain, the air smells of fresh earth, new mowed grass, with a slight ozone background, I guess “forgiveness” is an apt description.
It means that the earth washed away some of the pollution, there’s a rainbow and a reminder that the air could always smell as fresh if we could only clean up our act. Good point.
Yes, I think it does. And I love walking in the rain, it always makes me feel better.
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