healthcare – ThinkB4its2Late

My work requires me to travel from city to city and work in a variety of businesses. Recently while at a grocery store I overheard several of the employees talking. One of them, a manager, had been in the ladies room and was telling the others that as she leaned over her store keys fell into the toilet. Whoosh!, off they went down to the sewer because the toilet flushes based on motion sensors, or light, not sure which. The keys to the store were gone. Not even a chance to get something to fish them out and sanitize them.

As mentioned above, I don’t have a regular office so using public facilities is necessary and what I am finding is a sad state of affairs in the public restrooms of America. They are not clean folks. I know what a clean bathroom looks and smells like, and even though they have automatic flush and battery operated towel dispensers, air-dryers for hands and motion detection faucets I just don’t get the feeling that I am in a place that’s clean. You know clean. There’s no layer of anything between you and the surface. The floors are not slippery. Mirrors are not murky or spotted, hard surfaces shine. The air smells, if it smells at all, fresh. There’s no mold. All of those things, any of them, is a rarity. Once in a while I come across a really clean bathroom and if possible I make it a point to compliment. There’s a rest area somewhere along my way that is always spotless. Last time I was there a cleaning lady was shining the towel dispenser while I washed my hands. I thanked her for a clean facility and told her how much I love a clean bathroom. She smiled and said she did too. It showed.

I suspect that this decline of cleanliness shows a shift in our priorities. A few decades ago we paid more attention to things like cleanliness and order. The public would not tolerate anything less. Nowadays we rely on automated systems to manage our chores. Or maybe we just think we can go and get a shot if we get sick. But if we were to ever experience the pandemic that all the experts say is coming I’ll just bet that the public restroom is where it’s going to get its start.

I notice frequently while driving that a majority, or close to a majority of people do not bother to use turn signals. I almost always use mine, unless there’s no one else on the road. Sometimes if I’m in a turn-only lane I will forego the blinker but most of the time I turn them on about fifty feet before turning. I am especially careful to do this when on the Interstate. That way if I don’t happen to see a car in the next lane, at least they can see that I intend to move over and hopefully avoid any accidents.

Sometimes I think other’s failure to use the turn signal is due to them being on the phone and not having a free hand at the time. But today I saw a couple of instances where they just didn’t bother. They saw me signalling and just turned in front of me without any indication that they were going to do so. Just another indicator of how we have come to treat each other, in many cases, our neighbors, in this society, formerly known as the greatest democracy in the world. A growing lack of respect for each other cannot in the end be a good thing. When we show disregard for others who are in our near proximity, what does that say about our society? Are we really so busy that we cannot extend common courtesy to those who are around us? Busy doing what? It saddens me to observe what we are turning into sometimes. I worries me to think that we are short selling the things that make for a great society: consideration, kindness, justice. I wonder too about the implications of our disregard for each other in these small matters, if it indicates the same feeling in matters of more importance. My hope is that before we get too far gone in this we will stop to consider where all of this is leading. Is this going to be the land of the selfish and the home of the greedy?

ThinkB4its2Late

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ThinkB4its2Late

Category: healthcare