Germs are everywhere. I think they’re second only to lists of bacteria ridden places, but many of the lists seem to be incomplete. We all know bacteria thrive in certain areas, bathrooms, kitchens, phones, money etc., but we might consider a few of the lesser known spots where bacteria lay in wait.
My friend and I went shopping the other day and she wiped the shopping basket handle with a disinfectant before she shopped. I wondered why she did that, so I mentioned it to her. She informed me that grocery carts were filthy, a source of disease. Well, that may be so, but I would think you would disinfect your hands after you shopped. I mean, aren’t you going to touch 50 or 60 items that everyone else has?
Speaking of shopping, what is the first thing you ladies do when you use a restroom? Other than breathe a huge sigh of relief that you made it in time? If there is no hook in the stall, do you not put your purse on the floor? Then you go home and place said purse on the kitchen counter. You have just brought into your home and placed on your food preparation surface a giant Petri dish covered with disgusting bacteria.
Do you realize how many people have touched the flatware in a restaurant that you assume is sterile and place directly in your mouth? Let’s start with the dishwasher who takes the steaming silverware out of the bins. He’s just been outside picking his nose. Then there are the bus boys and girls that paid no attention to the signs that say “Employees must wash their hands before leaving the restrooms”. Not to mention the employees that actually set the table. You’re cooked before you get your bread and water.
You’re also doomed by physically opening any door. We’re good with disinfecting the door knobs in our own homes, but do you carry a can of Lysol with you and spray each door you open in a public place? Go ahead and pick up that magazine in your doctor’s office to kill some time. Don’t worry. The sneezing and hacking kid that handed it to you probably doesn’t have anything that contagious.
My point is that we could drive ourselves crazy with worrying about bacteria. I’m with the old school way of thinking. Cultivate and exercise your immune system. Let it do what it’s supposed to do. Let your kid play in the dirt and eat a worm or two. Weren’t the dirtiest kids in school also the ones with the best attendance? Live dangerously and lap that postage stamp instead of spitting on it.
We are headed the way of the “Bubble Boy”. I don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about joining Milo, the hamster, and rolling around in a sterile plastic bubble to get from point A to point B. We laughed at Monk, who stood in front of his mirror and sterilized his toothbrush while brushing, but maybe we shouldn’t be laughing, because we’re becoming more and more like him every day.
