No contact

 I noticed it yesterday when I stopped to get gas, no it wasn't Taco Belle, it was the Exxon station. A new sign was on the pump touting contactless payment now available. Apparently you can install the app on your phone, isn't it something how we say app now and everyone immediately knows you mean application, and just pay that way. You can also use Alexa, that girl really gets around, and coming soon you will able to just tap the pump with that radio chip on your debit card! You won't have to touch a thing to pay for the gas, you will have to touch the handle of the pump and select the grade of fuel you want however. I hope you brought your disposable gloves with you. I used to see them earlier in the year, not so much today but I guess they will be provided at some places soon. I remember when you could get a free after dinner mint or a toothpick guess it'll be disposable gloves now. 

 Isn't it ironic that we have developed all this technology to stay in touch with one another and the push is for contactless exchanges? I'm thinking instead of having a first date kids in the future will be talking about first contact. It will be exciting and scary at the same time, you remember that feeling don't you? You know you had been looking, imagining, wondering, what will it feel like? It's forbidden but you just gotta find out. Even though the technology is there, we don't have to actually touch one another, risk the exchange of germs, viruses, and god only knows what else, the temptation is great. Tonight, tonight we make contact! 

 I've also seen the proliferation of a device on the bottom of the bathroom doors in public places.  Have you seen that? A little plate that sticks out that you are supposed to pace your foot on. You can then open the door without touching the handle. Being a curious person I just had to try it. In my experience I found I could only open it a small amount, not enough to actually get out, not enough to even dive into the opening and use my back to open it the rest of the way. I suppose it is possible but I found it ungainly, awkward and just plain silly. But I guess it is a lot cheaper than having those automatic doors with a light activated sensor. See them on a lot of toilets these days, been around for a while. So have those seat covers for toilets but does anyone really use them? In some foreign countries they solve that whole problem easy enough, there is no toilet at all, just a hole in the floor. Some have footprints in the floor to help you line it up. Completely contactless. It does require balance and flexibility however. 

 I saw a man on the news yesterday hawking his invention. It is a face mask. This one however looks like a scuba mask. It covers your whole face and the exhaust tube sweeps back over your head. He claims it never fogs up and provides the ultimate protection. It just concentrates any coronavirus droplets that you spit out at velocities capable of spanning a six foot distance right there on that clear face shield, the one right underneath your nose. Hey, if you have the virus you might as well get a more concentrated dose while you are at it. Isn't that what all these face masks do? Well, it's fine I suppose, build up your immune system a little faster that way. Sure you could just cover your mouth before you cough like we used to do but not this time, this time we need to concentrate that virus in front of ourselves as much as possible. After all, about .07% of people getting this virus die from it! 99.3% of people getting hit by a car die, maybe we should just park those vehicles of death! And yes, it is contact that kills them. Same thing happens when a bullet makes contact with you, strange isn't it? If only we could avoid contact.

 And then I saw a program on television about using our advanced technologies to make contact! Yes, we are trying to make contact with aliens. OMG, what can those scientists be thinking? The evidence is clear enough, contact causes problems. You come into contact with objects or people and the next thing you know, you are either dead or dying. It happens all the time and has done so for millennia. Guess there isn't enough contact here on earth already, now we are looking for it! Of course we are wearing suits so I'm guessing those scientists are counting on that. As long as we are wearing our PPE. Another acronym everyone is familiar with these days. Personal Protective Equipment. When I was in high school we didn't call them that but most guys carried one in his wallet, you know in case we made contact. It pays to be prepared, could save your life. 

 So, the objective now is to create a contactless society. I admit that would solve a lot of problems. If we reduce the transmission of germs, viruses, and other contaminates we will all be healthier. I can see that. Sure you will have little to no resistance to any that you do come into contact with but, we are avoiding all contact so it really won't be a problem. Pandemics would be contained to one family unit at a time. That would be the only time you would be without your PPE. Our houses will be self contained atmospheres with germ killing aerosols constantly injected into the air flow.  I'm thinking we could just test our teenage children and impose a two week waiting period before they make first contact, you know to protect them. We have to remain ever vigilant. 

 It's a miracle that any of us are here at all. I have to give credit to our Moms though. They were the ones that always told us, don't touch that, it's got germs on it! And when we did touch something, got those germs all over us, she would wet the corner of her handkerchief with some saliva and just wipe them away. Everyone knows Moms' saliva is a powerful disinfectant, saved me more than once. How we went around back then just touching everything and surviving that I just can't figure out. Maybe there was something in the fabric of our jeans. Wiped my hands on them often enough before eating a sandwich or whatever. Or maybe, just maybe  our bodies came into contact with those germs and viruses so often that they weren't considered foreign anymore. It's only foreign objects that the body wishes to reject, science tells us that. I wonder, if we start avoiding contact with each other won't the same thing happen? Well, we haven't gotten that far yet, we are just avoiding contact with objects right? People still want to come into contact with our money, they just don't want to touch it.