Wash Your Hands!

Back in college, Pam and I was set to join the debate society and one of the exercises for applicants was to say something about a certain topic for five solid minutes.

I never did pursue debating though (in fact, I only lasted until the debate simulations before I lost interest). But during that first exercise, one interesting thing that came out was the sample answer by one of our facilitators. His question was: Do you wash your hands after peeing and why? His answer? Well, he wasn't shy about it, that's for sure. He claimed that he didn't and went on to explain why.

According to him, he doesn't wash his hands because he knows that it does little to improve one's hygiene. Although it's theoretically possible to rid one's hands of germs after a thorough wash, he will still get germs from merely holding a door knob or touching just about anything afterwards. In addition, diseases aren't easily transmitted from foreskin-to-other-skin contact so people shouldn't be worried about transmissions from men who don't wash their hands after the deed.

Well, he may have been content with that answer but I wasn't. To soothe any provoked anxiety, I can honestly say I do wash my hands and I'm not doing it because it's something to brag about but because it's the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, most of the men-folk in this land don't share my habit (If you're a man, try hanging out in the men's CR for a while and count the relatively few who wash their hands before they exit. You'll get the idea). For the many, it's an inconvenient and ineffective means of sanitation.

Still, it's better than nothing. To digress, during the time when it was still common practice to hold strangers' hands during the mass' "Our Father" prayer, I would always make sure that I ended up seated beside a female than a male (If I wasn't so lucky, I would claim that I had a runny nose just so I won't be obliged to hold his hand during the prayer).

In the end, it's simply a matter of respect. If you respect the next person who touches your hands, you wash your hands after the deed, period. And that rationale sits along with me just fine.