Reminds me of a George Carlin routine where he said people in his neighborhood don't get sick because they all grew up swimming in the East River and are now immune to everything...

Is it possible to be too clean? Researchers say yes

Good thing I've kept my mind dirty...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

We've had this brought up in some EMS training.

I've also read that studies have shown that kids who grow up getting dirtier, like farm kids, have more robust and effective immune systems their whole lives.

Interestingly, mt Mother told me when I was a child that she remembered a little girl from her childhood who had a doting Mother of her own, and how she was frequently sick. A doctor told the mother to find a mud puddle and let her girl play in it- - in effect, that she was being kept too clean and that her immune system wasn't developing properly.

Now, that would have been in the 1930's or very early 1940's, and the doc would be long gone. I wish there was a way to have let him know how far ahead of his time he was!

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“Quod scripsi, scripsi"

"Sometimes, the source of the beautiful dawning light that drives back the darkness, is your house burning"

Well, I'm sorry I have to bathe once a month whether I need to or not.

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Courtesy of Swissman

A gun in the hands of a free man frightens and angers the autocrat, not because he fears the power of the gun, but, rather, the spirit of the man who holds it.

ANONYMOUS

Of course it's possible to be too clean. If you lived in a bubble all of your life, never exposed to any germs, bacteria, viruses EVER and then were suddenly plopped down in the middle of NYC, you would probably die.

Your immune system needs 'training', so to speak. It can't recognize invaders if it's never seen invaders. Not only do all of our antibiotics, antiseptics, cleaners, etc create 'super bugs', they also prevent our immune system from doing what it needs to do.

Go eat some dirt.

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To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbors. ~ John Stuart Mill

Gypsy Soul Memories
Scuba Diver Life
Success Freaks

Almost every germophobe I know has kids who are plagued with allergies. I truly think that the idea that kids have to be protected from everything is stupid beyond belief. I remember talking with someone at church about teaching Rhayne to drink out of the hose and a lady who overheard it thought that was so unsanitary and dangerous (she's one of those people who's kids go to the Dr. every time they winded because she thinks they're having an asthma attack, every time they get a cold because she thinks it's pnuenomia, every time they bump thier head because they have a concussion). Let your kids play in the dirt, let them pick up raisins off the floor when they drop them and then eat them, let them share drool with each other while giving "kissies". Get those little rugrats exposed to as much stuff that doesn't kill/incapacitate them as possible. We're raising a weak-ass generation because we're so afraid of the "horror stories" we hear every time we turn around.

It's time to take back our children and our neighborhoods. When I was growing up, we had curfew of "dark" and I know that there were days when the only time my Mom saw me and my older brother for 14 hours was when we got up and when we got home. In between, we were at our fort in the wood, damming up a creek to make a pond, hiking cross country (4-5 miles) to a patch of huckleberries we knew about, walking to the store (2-3 miles) while picking up bottles to turn in for candy money. Keep in mind that the guy who lived across the road from us was a pedophile who liked little boys, but who also had been on the receiving end of a conversation with my Dad about how deep his body would buried in the woods if he ever laid a hand on us. We stayed away from Charlie's place, but everywhere else was free game. We weren't afraid of Charlie, because we knew that he wasn't a threat since Dad would have killed him and buried him in the woods if he crossed the line and Charlie knew that as well. It's time that we returned to using common sense and interaction with our neighbors to keep our neighborhoods safe, instead of thinking that everyone and everything is a threat that our kids should be protected from.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Leftists and very small children don't seem to be able to understand that the Government isn't there to "fix" the economy, anymore than a tick is there to fix your dog.~Oftencold

Miss those days. When I was a kid we had similar rules. Out by, but not before 9am. Home for lunch when the noon whistle blew,again at six for dinner when the whistle blew and before dark for the night. In between time I was all over the place. My Mom always seemed to know if I got out of line cause she knew all the neighbors and they would call her if they saw me doing something I shouldn't. I was a bit of a tomboy and came home filthy and was sent immediately to take a bath. Nobody was constantly wiping me with sanitizing wipes and dumping Purell in my hands everytime I touched something like todays mothers do,and I survived just fine.

Off-topic slightly but I have started in the last couple of weeks to keep a small pump bottle of hand sanitising gel in my coat pocket. A few people recently on public transport have sneezed into their hands and then getting up from their seat held on to the handrails before getting off the bus. As soon as I step off the bus I reach in my pocket and spray my hands including between my fingers. I know I am likely also to get the cold virus from speaking face to face with people and shopkeepers etc., but for certain situations I am going to use the sanitiser gel. Being self-employed I don't earn if I am ill. I had the flu vaccine yesterday but was surprised that it didn't include swine flu as it did last year.