WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU

As I was getting dressed for work yesterday, I heard the folks at the Today Show begin to report the horrors of germs on shopping carts. Then I changed the channel.

It's not that I'm in denial, or that I think if I don't hear the bad news then it can't affect me. It's just that I know germs lurk everywhere -- really bad ones, the ones resistant to anti-bacterial stuff even. So I wash my hands more than I ever have in my entire life, though not too much to be considered obsessive by any stretch of the imagination. And once in a while, I think twice before resting my hands anywhere -- even on my cat.

Still, I can't help but think that when I was growing up, mom didn't swipe the grocery cart handle first before driving it around the store. I also drank from the water fountains in school and at the neighborhood playground (which I guarantee were never sanitized) and I literally ate dirt when I fell off the slide. And if I think of other things I ate and drank at a few less-ritzy Manila restaurants (which would no doubt be shut down for health violations if they existed today in Los Angeles), why, I wonder how I'm even still alive.

Every day I get some email warning about the perils of not only germs, but toxins, everywhere, all around me. Apparently it's in our food, the things we use to cook our food with, and also how we choose to prepare them! Well-intentioned people tell me all the time how, say, tofu is good or bad for me. It's all confusing, really.

So I've decided not to freak out in fear and, instead, simply try to live a life of moderation. If I decide to eat the wrong kind of fish or heat up my food inside the microwave oven (covered in plastic wrap even) once in a while, I know I won't transform into a mutant today or ever. Or if I bite into  a piece of barbecued pork that's a bit burnt on the corners I won't panic. I suppose what I'm saying is that I've heard and read almost all the different reports and warnings and so I'll try to do more of what's generally considered good and less of the bad. But if I go about my days too worried about everything I touch or taste or sense then it won't be much of a life, at least in my opinion. Plus I think the stress from all that worrying about how to keep alive longer will only kill me anyway.

Comments

[Anna]

People are way too obsesses about germs. We all need a good dose of them to keep our immune systems functioning, because if we live in a sterile environment, we won't develop any resistance to germs. Without a strong immune system, the mildest germs will have the power to kill us. I've always let my kids play in the dirt, and don't throw a fit if they eat some snack that fell on the floor. If you don't use it, you lose it!

[Gigi]

Anna - I completely agree with you. Wasn't there something in the news about the predominance of antibacterials being part of the reason for the emergence of supergerms?