Accepting Constructive Criticism is the litmus test of your ability to evolve. Are you open to change if you're shown a better way?

When should you get involved or just look the other way?

It was in high school gym class while doing jumping jack calisthenics when it was just impossible to escape Joshua's (changed his name) foul body odor. I'm 30 feet away from this guy and no one smells him but me? Joshua's wrinkled gym shorts and t-shirt showed a litany of stains everywhere. I had no compassion for him, I was disgusted by his appearance and stench and was only concerned with me staying as far away from him in gym class as I could. I had no thought then of what his home life might be like for him to come to school looking so unkempt, if he had anyone in his home was looking after him, or whether he believed he was loved by anyone. So fast forward 30 years and I'm studying for my Bachelors of Science degree at the University of MA School of Nursing in Boston. I'm sitting in the fourth seat from the front of the class in my statistics class and notice that every time the teacher walks away from the blackboard towards the seating area, a terrible, disgusting stench of body odor passes by me and I thought "well maybe it's the teacher", Then the student in front of me changes her seat and I notice that there is a wide circle of empty seats surrounding the student that is seated two seats in front of me. I then realized that the body odor must be coming from him and that the air pressure generated from the teacher's forward motion passing by Mr. stinky is the science behind how Mr. S's scent is reaching me. So I put up for this for about two weeks, and then decided to deal with it on a recess break. I pulled the guy aside and asked if I could speak with him for a minute. I said, "I like you and I don't want to hurt you feelings, but I don't know how else to deal with this. Your body odor is so bad that no one can sit near you. "Just look at the many empty seats that surround you in classroom. I sit two seats behind you and the odor is terrible. I'm truly sorry if what I've told you upsets you, but what appears to be your poor personal hygiene, obviously effects how others perceive you and likely effects your relationships with them. I'm hoping you take what I've told you as constructive criticism and make some changes Please". He responded, "I'm so upset that you spoke with me about this now that I will not be able to concentrate for the rest of the class, you could have waited till the class was over and then he left." The next class I had with him there was no odor BINGO. I would always smile and say hello to him whenever I saw him in the hallway, although he totally ignored me for the next few months. However, I noticed that the students slowly started taking up the seats which surrounded him so that the empty chairs which created a moat around him got smaller and smaller and then disappeared. About 6 months later he approached me in the lunch room and thanked me. I'm not sure if there was a better or a more humane way to broach the subject with him. The way that's always worked for me is to shoot from the hip. I truly believe that constructive criticism is a gift from others, which I personally appreciate, when someone shows me how to do it in a better way or explains how my actions may have effected someone else. But there is no question there's the potential to get into trouble by getting involved, if your motives are not perceived as honorable and or deemed as an attack on their character, Most often the individuals are just not ready to accept change, but not always.