A big "BREAKING NEWS" sign flashed across my morning news TV screen just now so I sat up straight and paid attention: It seems the US Postal Service will be ceasing Saturday mail delivery beginning in August due to their continuing financial problems.
OMG....you mean they're still delivering mail? I thought they went broke months ago. I guess I should go clean all the accumulated junk mail from my mailbox. (Shows you how relevant they are to my life.)
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At the risk of jinxing myself I'll share this recent observation: K came home yesterday and said everyone in her office was sick. Many called in sick, and the ones still there were coughing, sneezing, and hocking stuff up. Someone asked her why she never got sick? For that matter, she and I are both rarely sick.
Here's my theory....we're acclimated to many of the germs and bacteria floating around the environment, just as doctors who see sick people all day long rarely get sick. We pet our dog who walks around on sidewalks and in the yard and sniffs other dogs. We hold on to the handrail on escalators. I'm outdoors a lot exposed to pollen and dust and pollutants.
Yes, we wash our hands, but we don't use those antibacterial gels 20 times a day like some do. Those are the types who run to the doctor at every sniffle and demand prescriptions for antibiotics, then find their systems are so sterile they can't take exposure to anything.
So here's my medical tip of the day: get dirty.
(Doesn't he look healthy? :)
S
I think you're absolutely right about your theory. I recall reading some actual science that says that kids raised on farms, where there are germs galore, have far lower instances of illnesses, and even chronic conditions like asthma and allergies. Yeah, I definitely think part of the reason these things are problems today is that we're a little too "clean."
ReplyDeleteIf people ever stop sending Christmas cards the PO will be closed forever.
ReplyDeleteYOu might be a bit tingue in cheek on the germ thing, but you are dead on!
I've had 2 doctors tell me the epidemic of kids alergic to nuts is because parents are not giving them nuts early on and they do not develope immunities. I am also guessing many that are "alergic" have never had a peanut because of the alergy fears.
Don't Mexicans drink the water?
you ARE right about the dirty stuff! I hate those disinfectant stuff ... never use them. And I'm good except for an occassional cold, which goes bye-bye after about 3 days without taken ANY meds!
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was born, I followed my MIL's (and her son's) rules about cleanliness.... I had to disinfect EVERYTHING! So now my son suffers from various allergies, he and his family are constantly sick. Seems every time I call them, someone is ill.
Yes people, go out and get dirty! lol
It's always funny that people will scrub their hands in the bathroom for like a minute...and then go put that clean hand on a door handle covered in germs. You can't fight it, so why bother? Get dirty!
ReplyDeleteThere are still some important things in the mail. I got three different 1099s in the mail yesterday from Amazon for my book sales. Though Smashwords does theirs online so you think a big huge bookseller like Amazon could do the same. Anyway, the post office has been locked in a downward spiral for well over a decade. They raise prices (and now cut services) because they're in the hole. Which only helps drive more people to doing stuff online. So now they have to raise prices to make up for that...and more people to defect to online/UPS/FedEX...and so on and so on. It won't end until the post office is wiped out. But it really is too big to fail because if there's no post office how does someone in Nome, Alaska get his mail? And other out of the way places that don't necessarily have access to high-speed internet and wifi and such.
How can my dad send me birthday money without the post office? I won't miss Saturday delivery though - our mail really is mostly junk.
ReplyDeleteI used to eat the grit off of our brand new brick home when I was five (I LOVED how it crunched!), so I'm pretty healthy. I do have seasonal allergies - probably because I hated being outside. But my colds are usually short-lived. Although the whining about them goes on and on...
I used to get sick all the time when I bit my fingernails. Since I stopped this bad habit of always popping my fingers into my mouth I get sick much less. Your post reminds me of the final words from HG Wells' War of the Worlds: The world was saved by the smallest things that God in His infinite wisdom placed upon the Earth.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the farm...as a matter of fact, I was born at home, in my mother's non-sterile bed. Maybe that's why I rarely get sick.
ReplyDeleteI do get a flu shot, just to be safe.