The sound of me blowing my nose has been mistaken for a couple of miscellaneous sounds. One notable one is a honking car or the sound of a trumpet.
This is all very upsetting to hear. I don’t want to be the cause of other peoples’ lapse in ability to differentiate sounds.
My nose blowing wakes my family up in the morning and keeps my family awake at night.
It has even been deemed a “disruption to the class” by one of my teachers freshman year.
During an allergy season, my nose blowing got so out of hand I was told I had to step out of the classroom whenever I needed to blow my nose.
My teacher thought she was saving me from the embarrassment of having to blow my nose in front of what seemed to be a very anti-nose-blowing class with their demeaning glares, when instead, she was dooming me to an even worse fate.
Once outside the classroom, I was subjected to the judgmental stares of the hallway-wanderers. It seemed as though there was some sort of mandated bathroom break every time I was sent into the hallway because students
poured out of their classrooms.
There I was, standing in the hallway. Alone. Tissue on nose. I think these people thought my tissue was covering my eyes, and not my nose, because they openly gawked at me as if I couldn’t see them.
When looking back and reflecting on my career as a nose-blower, it is hard to ignore the repercussions. It has not only affected the relationship I have with my teachers, but it has also affected the relationship I have with my classmates, who look at me contemptuously for having seasonal allergies.
How can something that brings so much pleasure and clarity to my nasal passageway affect my academic life and reputation so negatively?
We have to understand something here: I cannot
change the way my air flow gets obstructed by the fluids congesting my naval septum.
All I ask here is next time you hear or see someone blowing their nose, pay them the respect they deserve.
I’d also like a little respect here too, and if you can’t respect the fact that I have irregular amounts of nasal mucus in my nose, you at least have to respect the fact that I’ve written an article about it that the whole school, and more, will read.
But I’m not complaining.
Because hey, it’s a hard snot life.
