An Antiseptic
Society in a Covid World
As we sat down
at the table mother’s first words were always: “Have you washed your hands, let
me see them”- and invariably one of us would be sent unceremoniously back to
wash them again, or perhaps to wash them for the first time! That was in the
1950’s and the basics of good hygiene were being inculcated in a way in which
they were and have been ever since, at the feet of mom or grandmother.
I would posit
that it did not matter which country one visited but that fairly similar
procedures were in place. My colleagues remind me that levels of what may be
called acceptable differed widely and certainly the coalminer in the early days
of the century whether he hailed from Ireland or South Africa might not have
been as squeaky clean at the supper table as his contemporaries who frequented
the hallowed halls of the New York Stock Exchange.
Without doubt
too, schoolyard playgrounds, might well have been swept clear of papers and
debris, but the marbles that shot across the well- used sand came from fingers
that had probably been used for reasonably unsanitary purposes prior to playing
marbles.
Now let me make
it quite clear that I am no medical doctor and I therefore make no pretense at
all to offering scientific responses to the pandemic which now stretches its
effects across the wide world. I merely wish to echo my own thoughts along with
the echoing concerns of the unvaccinated millions.
I opened with
some thoughts directed at some sanitary practices of the 1950’s… I started in
these years because strangely enough I can not remember the years prior to
being born, but I mention them simply because very little has actually changed
in the past almost 70 years and if one ventures into historical context, apart
from the invention and mass production of detergents and soaps in more recent
times, mankind survived the ages. One may ask would we have done better in
terms of survival during the plagues, flu epidemics and a myriad of other
illnesses, had we had better, or more available medicines and the answer would
probably be in the affirmative. How much better one can only but guess, for
perhaps fewer would have died but in essence it might simply be a numbers game
and little else.
Where though, in
this short piece am I going with respect to the world we now occupy?
The question I
raise does not speak to yesterday or even today, but rather to the tomorrows.
Tomorrows which
we are busy filling with human beings unable to meet the challenges of minor
illnesses as their immune systems have been so anaesthetised by the continued
sanitizing processes, wearing of masks and avoidance of any real contact with
each other, quarantining ourselves if we even suspect ourselves of possibly
being in contact with another who may possibly have had contact with a Covid
infected human being. We avoid hugging, kissing, and making any visible contact
with members of our community, living in sterile, antiseptic bubbles.
Whilst the
older, more vulnerable- (really?- Have we not built up an immune system capable
to withstanding the plethora of diseases we have been exposed to over the
years? Have we not absorbed a myriad of viruses as we danced and jived our way
through the cigarette smoke filled noisy dance floors of our youth and later
life?) members of our society are entreated to become vaccinated by a vaccine
which is not a vaccine and the youth, who are now sanitized beyond recognition
are invisible and untouchable, crying out to be held and comforted in their
vacuum- packed worlds.
It is an
antiseptic society we are creating, and unless the medical world stays a step
or two ahead of the viruses which are becoming more and more resistant to our
detergent world, our immune impoverished sanitized bodies will wilt and succumb
to viruses far less virulent than Covid19 or whatever strain lurks out there.
We do not need
vaccines- we need to live healthily, and I do not suggest this means practicing
social distancing in the fast food queue!
