I don’t have a germ phobia or anything, but I’ve never been a fan of shaking people’s hands. However, when you’re in my line of work it comes with the territory. At Wal-Mart (yes, I too love those Always Low Prices), at church, restaurants, gas stations and even the gym, I’m always running into someone who wants to shake hands.
There are times where you can do the polite head nod, but one thing I will not do is be rude. If someone extends his or her hand, I meet it. The things is, with this H1 N1 virus, I’ve been even more reluctant to do that. In church today, I admit, I cringed at the thought and then before I knew it, my hands were clasped in someone else’s.
Health experts are warning the best defense against the Swine Flu or any illness for that matter is to keep your hands clean. But that’s almost impossible when you go around touching other people, who’ve touched other things, things we have no knowledge of.
Sanitizer is great, but you can’t always pull it out in public or can you? I did while sitting in the church pew this morning. Come to think about it, I’ve been using it quite a bit lately.
Seriously though, I say all this hoping that everyone will be a little more forgiving of each other if we’re not willing to return a handshake especially until this Swine Flu finds its way out of our lives.
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I hang out with a family and friends of Chilean heritage. They love to greet each other with hugs and cheek kisses. I always accepted their pratices until recently when I have developed a phobia about H1N1. I have underlying health issues (cancer 3times). Am I being paranoid about the new flu.