Clean that Elbow!

I am not that old, but things seem to have changed since I was a kid.

I was taught to cover my mouth when I coughed or sneezed. Sounds fine, right. Well, for the last million years I think it was. But now, we know better. Now we have to cough into our elbow. I know you have seen all these little kids who cough into their elbows. I see it at the school all the time. To me, it looks really stupid.

I guess I can understand the stated reason. You know, to keep gems off your hands and thus keep them from spreading. Me, I think this germ phobia is a bit blown out of hand. You see Purell everywhere. Every soccer mom is loaded with the stuff. Whipping it out at the slightest hint of a little dirt. Heck, even at the Wal Mart you have these wipes that are soaked with Purell to clean the cart handle.

Just the other day on the Wall Street Journal radio show they had a report that stated that due to the excessive use of antibacterial soaps and cleansers, a bacteria in the human stomach that processes fats has been eliminated. At least we have something to blame our over obesity on.

Just the other day I ran into a Hobby Snobby store to get something for the wife. (I hate that store.) There was a woman in there with a kid about four years old. She was the typical thirty something with one point four kids, a suburban house, a Starbucks in her hand, a toe ring, a gym membership, a shirt two sizes too small for her, the whole nine yards.

Well, her kid sneezes, correctly I might add, into his elbow. Obviously he had been taught well. What got me was what the mom did. She dove into her LV purse and located the cure all. This is not what surprised me. She proceeded to squirt a dob into the elbow of this kid and clean his elbow pit. OMG. You have got to be kidding me. Afterwards, she strutted around like she had just saved the world. And we wonder why we can't build a resistance to germs.

What is this world coming to?

El Toro Negro