Culture Shock

I am an American, but sometimes our culture shocks me.  My grandmother came home from the hospital last night and I decided that because she is on a restricted diet, I would make her and my grandpa Vegetarian Chili. The trick was to do it without her knowing it was meatless. Of course I bought the Boca Crumbles and it passed as ground beef.  Those Boca product people are slick!

When I entered the store, I noticed a sign that said, "A Clean Store Starts With You!" Underneath the sign was a supply of handi-wipes to disinfect your hands and your cart.  This isn't the first time that I've seen this statement at a grocery store, but while I was browsing through the aisles for my groceries, it dawned on me that we are a nation obsessed with cleanliness.  One often hears the statement, "cleanliness is next to Godliness." I have a rebuttal for that one.  God in my understanding is a force of energy that put the universe into motion and ultimately allowed for life to come into existence here on this planet, and I'm pretty sure on others as well.  When I think of the Universe, the galaxies, our solar system, our planets, I think of nature. When I think of nature, I think of hiking, camping, fishing...you know, all the things that are dirty.  So in MY humble opinion, "Dirt is next to Godliness." Seriously!

I believe that if we were to allow a little dirt and germs into our lives, we would have a better chance at fighting infections.  Keeping ourselves completely sterile is a waste of time.  I believe in washing my hands after I go to the bathroom or I take out the garbage, but I don't believe in sanitizing my hands every time I walk into a grocery store, or any store for that matter.  I'm not a dirty person, so why should I?  The inevitable argument! What about protecting ourselves from the dirty people that do exist out there.  Here's my solution, ignore it.  If you know that you are clean, chances are you are going to maintain that lifestyle and you are more than likely going to wash your hands eventually.  My point here is that we are obsessed with cleanliness.  I've heard that other cultures say we Americans smell like anti-septic, when we visit their countries.  

I think maybe my attitude towards this societal obsession comes from my experience living in a developing nation from the age of 10-14.  Ecuador did not offer the most sanitary living conditions.  Our family lived in a clean home of course, but there were times when toilets couldn't be flushed for days because of power outages and other random infrastructure problems. Imagine going to the bathroom in a toilet that is full of poo.  It's kind of sickening I know, but that's the way life is in some areas of the world.  And I will admit that dysentery and cholera were still major issues in the poorer areas of that nation.  But without a little bacteria around for our bodies to fight off, we become less tolerant of illnesses that our bodies should be able to tackle without the aide of antibiotics. 

I moved to Ecuador over 20 years ago, but I know that much of the world is still developing and what we have here is not available in those areas of the world. Two years ago I went to Egypt where sanitation is not to the level that we have here.  Blanca, Annie and I climbed to the top of an old Roman gate, Bab Zweila, in Cairo and were able to look down on the cramped and clustered buildings.  Piled on the rooftops were mass amounts of garbage.  In France, people eat raw hamburger meat with raw eggs.  What I'm trying to get at, is that THE REST OF THE WORLD DOESN'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH DIRT! 

I think as Americans, we should allow a little dirt into our lives and just deal with it. Screw those little bottles of hand-sanitizers. Get dirty, roll around in it. Have fun with it and stop worrying that your kid's friend's snot is going to get your kid sick. Kids get sick, we all get sick, let's just deal with it.