bugs and germs
At this point in the summer we find ourselves sharing our home with a variety of insects. There are fruit flies in the compost pail (and colonizing any other ripe fruit or vegetable we happen to leave on the counter), and the occasional swarm of ants that makes its way under the door when Rascal is less than scrupulous at cleaning up around Harvey's highchair. There are also flies, lately: we have some holes in our screen doors nor are we always good about keeping them closed. None of these crawlie beasties disturbs our equanimity much though, now that the drought has done away with all the mosquitoes. We're happy to live and let live, and never mind a few flies on the dinner leftovers.
I understand that we're not the only ones to be so easy-going, though. Yesterday at the library I was flipping though a book that purports to provide instruction on how to stay healthy and avoid germs, and I'm sure the author would be utterly appalled at the the thought of insects indoors, much less touching food. Like, ew! When you're dealing with someone who advises you to not to squeeze your produce at the supermarket because who knows who else has been touching it and the bacteria and all, you know that actual bugs have definitely got to be on the no-no list. But really, how many bacterias can really fit on those teeny little fly feet?!
In all seriousness, it's not only laziness or slovenliness that leads us to keep our house open to the world outside; rather, we have a philosophical belief that it isn't actually healthy to block all the windows and only breathe air that has been purified to remove 99% percent of airborne particles. You're going to have to go outside, you're going to be exposed to viruses and bacteria and bugs and who knows what, and you know, that's ok. Maybe you'll even get sick once and a while. But if people with sealed homes and air filtration systems are avoiding sickness entirely, I haven't heard anything about it. I doubt they are, because then who would be buying all that Emergen-C?!
In the end I think it's kind of like sacrificing virgins to the volcano. Most of the time we throw someone in there the volcano doesn't erupt! Are you saying we should risk not sacrificing?! I'll tell you a secret: I eat food that fell on the ground, I pet dogs and don't wash my hands, and I have bugs in my house. And I really don't get sick all that often. Really!