Last week’s poll asked what your favorite sport was and it was a very close one between football and baseball with hockey coming in a distant third. While I chose football I do enjoy watching baseball live or listening to it on the radio to bring back warm and fuzzy memories of the Phillies.
Speaking of warm and fuzzies: earlier this week our favorite lovable and huggable teddy-bear of a curmudgeonly South Metro blogger, Sank, was interviewed by the ever so famous Jason DeRusha about hand washing–especially when in the bathroom. While Sank tries to cover up his lack of hand washing on his own site with a bunch of lies, we know the truth about him. He’s a dirty old man!
Well to be perfectly honest I don’t believe in washing hands nearly as frequently as some because I think it’s an extremely unhealthy thing to do especially in the day of anti-bacterial everything. We need to be able to handle what the environment throws at us and being that we survived for thousands of years rolling around in dirt, eating raw meat, and eating with our hands and hundreds more without antibacterial foaming soap and alcohol based rubs at every corner so I think it’ll be all right if I don’t wash my hands every 5 minutes of the day.
So what about you? Are you an obsessive compulsive hand washer? Do you use antibacterial soap knowing full well that you could be aiding in the rise of superbugs? What about Sank’s performance on DeRusha’s Good Question? Feel free to comment on and then vote on the sidebar over there. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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September 19th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Sorry I fixed the poll. Obviously running them on autopilot does not work.
September 19th, 2010 at 9:29 am
I tend not to much during a normal day, but after I handle cash from customers, I can’t get to a sink quick enough to scrub down.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Soap and water is fine for me. I’ve always thought high use of antibacterial products, either pills, or now soaps is a very…very…very bad idea. Providing an easy path for nature to determine which bugs are the strongest just doesn’t seem like a good thing.
I wash my hands after going to the bathroom. More so due to ongoing prodding from my wife. As long as my immune system stays highly functional, I don’t sweat door knobs, money, bowling shoes, basically anything. Almost all of those things are unlikely to have truly bad bacteria on them.
Where I will focus much on hand washing though is when preparing food for myself or others. Raw food, in particular meats require significant care when cooking to avoid cross contamination and ensure that really bad bacteria, stuff that will make anyone sick, is properly dealt with and accounted for. I wash my hands and my tools often.
September 19th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
I’ve had to get food-safety certification for my jobs, and so, yes, I do wash my hands when I’m going to eat or prepare food, and the whole bathroom thing.
I’m not Lady Macbeth; I do agree with what you say about building immunities. Our pharmaceutical companies do not, for some odd reason. Hm. But we also have to take into account that most of us (including me) do not eat a diet adequate in what we need to fight off disease. Also, in our global society (which I love), germs are brought in from all corners of the world, and what a person who grew up in, say, Singapore, is immune to, might not be the same for Indiana me.
My daughter’s fourth grade teacher was this amazing woman who reminds me of the character from The Magic School Bus. She kept this menagerie in the classroom, even an iguana, and while the kids cared for them, hand-washing was a must, especially after handling the animals. Her class had the least absence record in the school. I consider that very strong evidence on the side of hand-washing, because kids are gross. (What, you think I was going to blame the animals?)
A teller at my bank told me that the employees are constantly sick, because they handle money. And it’s true, money has all kinds of disgusting crud on it. So, to add to the hand-washing list, washing your hands after handling money is a very good idea. I won’t eat food in places where the person handles your money, then handles your food.
It’s amazing to me how many people don’t bother to wash their hands after going to the bathroom. I’ve even seen it in high-brow places, like the MIA. For heavens sake, if you’re not worried for yourself, then think about the people you love, and the people you shake hands with.
September 19th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I’m fix’n to come over there an wash you insolent little hands.. G-d knows what you’ve done with them.
On second thought…
September 20th, 2010 at 7:35 am
We watched the DeRusha segment online – and the kids were saying in wonderment: “Its Mr. Sank!” Considering that he is close to a rock star in their eyes (he catches fish AND cooks them AND plays the guitar AND has a cool phone AND is sarcastic? He’s AWESOME!), I’ve been noticing more voluntary handwashing by the Mini-Whits since, so if Sank could arrange to be filmed on a segment titled “Cleaning Up After Yourself – Everyone Cool Is Doing It! (and You’re A Dork If You Don’t)” that would help me out immensely. Thanks.
September 20th, 2010 at 7:49 am
I wash up after using the restroom of course, and before/after prepping food etc. – I’m a bit lax if I’m working on something in the garage, or not in common areas of the house (garage/autowork etc) – Otherwise, yah, especially after you use the restroom.. That’s just gross.
I’ve got a bottle of hand sanitizer for when I’m out camping etc, again, moreso for food prep and restroom than an OCD habit.
September 20th, 2010 at 11:50 am
OK Whit.. you’re hired. BTW, no young ones at my house cleans up after themsleves.
September 27th, 2010 at 7:31 am
[...] week’s poll asked about your hand washing habits and while “Always” won out, “Most of the time” came in a very close second [...]