As some of you may, or may not know, I’m something of a germaphobe. Well, maybe “phobe” is taking it a bit far (though I’m sure some of you will dispute that), but the term gets the point across. Mainly I think that sick people should be more concious of where they are coughing and sneezing (yes, I’m glad that you covered your mouth with your hand, but did you have to pick up the remote control right after that?). Also, people need to wash their hands more. Also, the 5 second rule is bollocks. When food hits the ground, I assess the situation on a case by case basis. This blanket “rule” is preposterous. 5 seconds on the living room rug - probably fine, aside from some carpet fuzz. 5 seconds on the ground at the zoo - monkeypox and bird flu. There’s a big difference there. A lot of people look down on me for this, but those people are gross. What’s wrong with being clean anyway?
Well, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, as a society, we do a lot of handshaking. Greetings, partings, wheelings and dealings, etc. While I like being able to pass judgment on someone based on their handshake (a bad handshake is a quick way to a bad first impression with me), the spread of rarely fatal, but decidedly aggravating illnesses has made me think twice about this widely accepted custom. I’m just tired of getting sick because someone felt that it was necessary to greet me with a handshake, merely because society deems it so. I’m, of course, not going to reject a handshake (unless you cross me), because that would be rude. I do, however, think that there must be a better way. . .
. . .and there is. We should take a cue from a more evolved being than ourselves. We humans still have a lot to learn, but we once had a visitor who showed us a greeting that still retained the physical contact of a handshake, but limited the spread of germs.
I’m talking about the E.T. finger-touch. Spread the word.
