It wasn’t disinfected and it wasn’t sterilized*
Christine the Curmudgeon can certainly see the need for proper hand-washing and all. But things have gotten ridiculous, what with all of the products that Madison Avenue tries to convince us that we need. Srsly…some of these ads are more aggressive than those that try to convince us that we NEED the very latest electronics (iPad, anyone?).
Hand sanitizers. Did not exist when I was a kid. Soap and water was it. I do not buy hand sanitizer, but I have a small sample sized bottle in my purse. I got it for free when I got a flu shot a couple of years ago. In my opinion, the only uses this product has for me is if I’m forced to pee in one of those porta-potties, which have no running water or soap, or a regular public restroom that has no soap. I certainly won’t waste money to buy big bottles for my kitchen and bathroom sinks. Soap & water, I say!
But now, Kleenex has a new product that I just saw a commercial for today – Kleenex Hand Towels. They are telling us that the CDC recommends drying hands with a single-use towel. Cloth towels = Very Bad, You Will Die From Using Them.
Give me a break! Okay, it’s gross if you keep the same towels hanging in the bathroom for weeks on end, with everybody in the house using them. But think about it…if you wash your hands properly, with soap and water, they are clean. You are then drying CLEAN hands on the towel. So how does the towel get horrifically germ-ridden and filthy? If you do laundry regularly, as most people do, you throw the towels in the wash and put out clean ones.
Same with bath towels. I’ve known people who are germophobes, and insist on a fresh towel with every shower. Once again, ridiculous! Even hotels, who are trying to save money and go green at the same time, are offering their guests the option to reuse a towel for a second or even third day of a stay. We always reuse the towels, if we’re there for more than three days, we’d like fresh ones. Same with sheet-changing. I don’t change the sheets at home every day, once a week is enough. Even Martha Stewart says so!
Paper towels are good for public restrooms, I wouldn’t want to use a cloth towel when I have no idea who used it before me, if they didn’t wipe their ass properly or picked their nose right before using it. But in your own home…they are a waste. Maybe if you are having a big party, it’s a good idea, but otherwise, a big waste.
I wonder how I ever made it to the ripe old age of 50 without all of this sanitizing crap. I’m probably healthier for it, as I was able to build immunity to germs and stuff. No wonder so many kids today are getting sick at the drop of a hat, they are not allowed to get dirty and develop immunity!
*The title of this post comes from a poem I first read a zillion years ago, as a kid. I don’t know exactly when it was written but I do know that the guy who wrote it died in 1943. But surely people weren’t as germophobic back then as they are now? I grew up in the 60′s-70′s an d never saw anything like I’m seeing now.
Here is the poem, for your enjoyment…certainly sounds like the germophobes of today, doesn’t it?
Strictly Germ-Proof
The Antiseptic Baby and the Prophylactic Pup
Were playing in the garden when the Bunny gamboled up;
They looked upon the Creature with a loathing undisguised;
It wasn’t Disinfected and it wasn’t Sterilized.They said it was a Microbe and a Hotbed of Disease;
They steamed it in a vapor of a thousand-odd degrees;
They froze it in a freezer that was cold as Banished Hope
And washed it in permanganate with carbolated soap.In sulphurated hydrogen they steeped its wiggly ears;
They trimmed its frisky whiskers with a pair of hard-boiled shears;
They donned their rubber mittens and they took it by the hand
And elected it a member of the Fumigated Band.There’s not a Micrococcus in the garden where they play;
They bathe in pure iodoform a dozen times a day;
And each imbibes his rations from a Hygienic Cup
The Bunny and the Baby and the Prophylactic Pup.Poem written by Arthur Guiterman (1871–1943)
