What is the purpose in washing hands?
Surely not to affirm a token ritual of cleanliness. The purpose should be, to minimize the spread of infection to ourselves and others. What infection? Colds, for one: you probably have seen ads and heard commentaries that indicate the transmission of colds and ‘flu could be reduced if people washed their hands frequently. Germs that cause diarrhea (“the runs”, and more serious illness including typhoid, cholera, etc. – not that we have much of the latter in the USA, but then other countries may be less lucky) for another. Nowadays, we can count on more antibiotic resistant bugs in our environment, so we should be even more careful; that we do not accidentally become exposed to E.coli or Staph or Strep or anything else, from our fellow’s throat (did he cough into his hand?), gut (what did he wipe, exactly?) or sore (did he have any cuts on his hand, and were they infected?). The details hardly matter, the overall problem is clear. Whatever the bugs might be, from wherever they might ha
