hold on

 I heard on the news there is now a shortage of hand sanitizer. One individual was especially concerned wondering just what she could do. I thought, has this person never heard of soap and water? I don't believe I ever saw a bottle of hand sanitizer until after the Mayan apocalypse. I remember on television all the surgeons would wash their hands with soap and water before putting their gloves on. I figured that must have been good enough. But then I thought maybe we should be talking to the Levi Strauss or Wrangler jean companies. There must have been some disinfectant in those jeans when I was growing up. If I needed to clean my hands before eating something, I just wiped my hands on the seat of my pants.  Really tough stuff like grease or oil; kerosene worked well. 

But my point is simply we didn't use hand sanitizer every two seconds and we all survived. Do you suppose we built up a sort of immunity to common viruses and germs? Could be. 

 Now it is a bit different these days as the global community gets ever closer together. I've read about infections in the past from foreigners. The Native Americans were infected by the Spanish Conquistadors, then the English and suffered from that exposure. Well they didn't have hand sanitizer, so. But I guess there is something to that. We certainly do get around these days. Well, some folks do, I pretty much stay around home. When I was in the Navy I got a complete battery of shots to protect me in those foreign countries I was likely to visit. Yes, you had to get protected against those Europeans! No telling what disease they might have. We don't have that stuff in America, or least we didn't. I do wonder what's up with that. In the 1950's, when I was a child, I received four vaccines. Three of them were combined into one shot. I got a total of five vaccines by age two. And I never got more than one shot per visit. Today kids get forty nine doses of fourteen different vaccines by the time they are six. By 18 they will have received sixty nine doses of sixteen different vaccines. Yet, they need hand sanitizer. I'm thinking Europe must be in our backyard. And I'm not even thinking about other less " civilized " parts of the world. 

 The woman on the news that couldn't find hand sanitizer was genuinely concerned. She just didn't know what to do. She was able to buy disinfecting wipes but no hand sanitizer! Of course I thought to myself, wipe your hands with those disinfecting wipes, duh! I'm hoping the reporter suggested that to her. Or you could buy rubbing alcohol and make your own hand sanitizer. Well there are those that are dependent I suppose. Probably holds a degree in Gender studies or something but no clue about much else. Of course in my way of thinking if you need to study genders, there really is only two, how comprehensive can that education be? Perhaps you should have taken a basic science course. Ever hear of a product called Clorox? Guess what chemical is in that that kills germs? Yeah, it's possible to disinfect anything with that stuff. A shortage of hand sanitizer is hardly an emergency! She was deeply concerned about her child, trying to keep her safe. 

 I don't know seeing stuff like this makes me wonder if man will survive. If a shortage of hand sanitizer causes deep concern among the masses I'm thinking we have a real issue. And now I hear they are stepping up testing. Yes  they have plans to test thousands of people just in case they may possibly have the coronavirus! We are going to sell you a vaccine, a treatment, something, whether you have it or not. I'm guessing the testing itself won't be free. Can anyone say, opportunity knocks? Now, I'm not saying it isn't a real thing and a source of concern. What I do question is the way the media seems to be stirring this up to panic levels. Now there is a shortage of hand sanitizer and N95 masks. But don't worry, they are working frantically on a new vaccine! That will take care of it. Some say it could take a year or so to develop. Wonder what we will be worried about by then? I'm betting it won't be coronavirus. If only we can survive without hand sanitizer long enough, if we can just hold on.