EDITORIAL - Where have people's hands been? When you shake hands with someone at church, the grocery store or a restaurant what kind of germs are they carrying? I once shook hands with Hillary Clinton and my wife told me to immediately go and wash my hands. She reminded me that her hands had been on Bill Clinton and that I wasn't touching her until I washed my hands.
Think about the people with whom you shake hands. Would you shake hands with Harvey Weinstein? What kind of serious offensive disease might you contact? Would you shake hands with Anthony Weiner? What about Bill Cosby? Kathy Griffin? Now our President has been accused of having an affair with a porn star a few years back.
There are reports she is starting up a tour to parade herself around the country naked to make money from the allegations. Have the President's hands been on a porn star? What happened to the $130,000 hush money that was allegedly paid to her? The truth about hush money is there is no such thing as hush money. If someone is trying to blackmail you there is no such thing as paying somebody to keep quiet because eventually they tell everything they know. How many people have come out in the last couple of years talking about stuff they had received money to keep quiet about? Several. They didn't keep quiet and I bet they spent the money.
What about our elected politicians? They lie to us all the time. They lie about how they want to help us. They lie to us about how much they care. They lie about where the money comes from and where it's going. They make any promise under the sun for your vote. Do you really want to shake hands with these people? What kind of crud are they carrying?
Today would be a good day to take a break from shaking hands and hugging strangers - at least through about April. Simply put - you don't need the flu or the crud that is going around this country.
My wife and I visited a church last week down the street and about 25 people shook hands with us. This was very nice of course. People like to feel welcomed when visiting a church. Many churches have what they call fellowship time when people turn around and shake hands with those around them. Many people enjoy this and greeting people they know or meeting new people. Unfortunately this time of year you could be shaking hands with death.
Germs can be contacted anywhere. From the grocery store cart to sitting next to people at sporting events or the movie theatre there are germs. Few people want to lock themselves in the house with disinfecting wipes or cans of Lysol. On the other hand nobody enjoys what comes with the Flu.
Almost everyday that I turn on the news one of the top three leading stories is about somebody dying from the flu or the hospitals being overrun with sick people. So far this year 30 children have died from influenza. Last season 110 children died. Every year according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 12,000 to 49,000 people will die from influenza. Seven hundred thousand people could end up in the hospital according to CDC. So many older Americans are impacted that the cases of sickness and deaths of seniors can only be estimated.
While the CDC has statistics on the growing number of influenza cases, we are not totally sure about all the numbers of people infected with various kinds of diseases by shaking hands with or touching many of America's celebrities, politicians and porn stars.
Dr. Glenn Mollette is the author of 12 books. His syndicated column is read in all 50 states.
