Ever since amoebas evolved and contorted into species of the
animal Kingdom, mouths (or a digestive organ resembling one) have been
swallowing more than just a good meal in and of itself. The further one looks back in time, the less
likely it becomes, that proper dinner table etiquette was practiced by the
human species. The body’s outer layer of skin has long been the first-line of
defense against microorganisms, but a body has several orifices that give germs
an easy route to the internal immunity defense system.
In my workplace
environment, as well as many others, there are differing sanitation habits when
dealing with the handling of food brought in for a co-worker or
co-workers. Potlucks are a popular form
of getting the whole office together for a favorite ritual: eating. In the break room on a long table lays a smorgasbord of
edibles. A compulsive disorder can be a
nightmare for someone. If the hand of
someone else reaches into a bread bag to retrieve a slice of bread, or reaches
for “finger foods” on a tray bare fingered, a sterile addict may scream bloody
murder and embarrass this poor unsanitary soul.
When does being reasonably clean become compulsory? Where is the line drawn? A famous pop star icon had a compulsive
cleaning disorder which no one would have paid any attention to if not for the
air filtering mask he wore in front of all cameras to capture a snapshot.
Germs and
bacteria clash with a living being’s immune system not only through the intake
of food and drink, but also through the air that they breathe. A person with a compulsive cleaning disorder
attempts to rid the interior of a house entirely of all viruses, germs and
bacteria once and for all. There is
nothing wrong with the desire to keep a clean and tidy house according to ones
aspiration and pride. It becomes an
addiction when a person imagines the house to be swarming with filthiness even
after the house has been sanitized from top to bottom. A compulsive cleaner does overkill and spend
an exorbitant amount of time cleaning.
A body’s immune
system has been the hidden, lean, mean fighting machine that has been warding
off germs, viruses, and bacteria for millions of years. As millennia have come and gone, non-humans
have fundamentally maintained the same hygienic habits as their ancestors. Humans have not been so fortunate. The more man evolves, the more man learns
about germs, viruses and bacteria and how to sterilize direct or indirect links
to the body. The home will become
cleaner and cleaner, and our immune systems will become lazier and unmotivated
and increasingly docile. Children
especially, need exposure to bacteria in order for their immune systems to
develop properly. Children can become
susceptible to asthma, allergies and additional more severe medical conditions,
if not allowed to let their built-in defense mechanism to do its intended
function. Some microorganisms have
become anti-biotic resistant or have arrived on the scene recently and have not
been given the opportunity to be fought against. Other bacteria have mutated into more deadly
forms on their own. Paranoid, uneducated
people, who think there are deadly organisms ingested with every bite they take,
inhaled with every breath they take or transferred to their body with every
handshake or bathroom door touched, are actually defeating the purpose of the
immune system. To not let the immune
system do its intended job is to cripple it.
“Use it or lose it” is a relative motto.
The evolutionary
process will continue to run its course as long as there are living things on
earth. I’m just fearful that too many
people are giving germs more credit than they deserve and are trying too hard
to assist the immune system in fighting off intruders.
Treating a
compulsive disorder as an addiction and affording the addict adequate
counseling to come to a reasonable middle ground will turn back the clocks of
time and allow the once mighty immune system to run its course and provide
evolutionary protection against the invading enemy. Our descendant’s lives may depend on it.
