Flatulence. It’s a bodily function. The gross release of warm fumes through the anal tube. We all do it. Most of us around 10 times a day. Some of us can even release up to two liters of farts within 24 hours—that’s two empty Pepsi bottles full of the aroma. We all have to expel the stink from within our bowels.
But us girls, at least some of us girls (hem hem, at least, myself), like to pretend that’s not the case. We like to declare we girls, well, we sparkle.
Throw some glitter in the air because there isn’t anything nasty in us needing to be released. Cover it up, shimmer.
But, at some point, reality hits us harder than Muhammed Ali knocking out his opponent to win the match. And we find the toxins we’ve been holding in, squeezing our cheeks tight to avoid the embarrassment, need to come out.
We are bitter. Angry. Confused. Frustrated. Heart-broken. And we have to fart it out. Sit in the stink, even just momentarily, to release the buildup of what has entered out hearts.
Because soon enough, I realize a little glitter and shimmer doesn’t cover up the bitter taste I have for the hurt they caused me. That a year is too long to hold in the cutting memories of loss. That the insecurities I have sting me as I look in the mirror, keeping my mouth silent. That I am frustrated over how the attention on Clinton’s pneumonia is because she’s a woman and is weak. If it was Trump, it wouldn’t be so scandalous. That it confuses and breaks me how the color of our skin, the make-up of our gentiles, the money in our pockets, sets up barriers and carries with it the weight of historical garbage our nation has consumed for too long. And I’m forced to face the stink of reality, of the toxin buildup even as we try to provide nutrients to our society, our bodies, our hearts.
At some point, we have to stop pretending like it isn’t there, doesn’t smell, isn’t you. Because the reality is we all fart, we all have shit (excuse my language) that needs to pass through our bodies. We have to embrace that even though we girls sparkle, we actually fart too. And trust me, it smells.
