utterly repulsive

last year i got a text from my roommate that read something like "the kid sitting next to me in lecture is sneezing all over me and wiping snot all over his coat". i was grossed out and glad i was not my roommate in that lecture hall. of course, each and every one of us has been in a similar position of either the patron next to the sick patient or the patient itself.

i had almost forgotten about this text, and thought that swine flu along with the common cold were away from me on campus, until i sat next to my classmate in our small 20 person class. the boy next to me has been yelled at numerous times for random things, but i never thought of him as 'unsanitary'-- at least i had no reason to believe this statement was true. he, like most people, sneezed in the middle of class, into his hand. then, unlike any 18 year old with common sense or a respect for hygiene of kind, wiped his hand full of snot all over the table he was seated at. it took this kid muptiple wipes to get all of the snot off his hand. then he went back to listening as though nothing had happened. i had been listening, but after i witnessed this grotesque act, i could not longer focus all of my attention on the professor. i wanted to get out of the room, and wash my hands, i wanted to get some kleenex for the kid, i wanted some bleach for the table. i looked around the room, hoping someone else had seen this act of germ spreading, but no one had seen it.

later in the class, we were going over some sheets we were supposed to print of the internet. the kid with the bad habits next to me had not printed off the sheets. furthermore, he volunteered to read, and took my papers, grasping them tightly in his hands, basically intoxicating them with his snot and germs. again, i was repulsed. i held my breath for the remaining 15 minutes of class, and as i left, i sanitized and washed my hands thoroughly.

most people stay home when they are sick, but in college, you miss a lot of information if you skip even one lecture. it's not as easy as those 'sick days' allotted by most work places. if your nose is literally running all over your clothes and on to the people next to you, you, sir, are allowed to miss class and get better! however, if you are immature enough to first sneeze in your hand and then proceed to wipe it all over brand new tables, you need to go back to kindergarten and learn how to both sneeze in your elbow and use a kleenex, or at the very least, ask if you are able to leave the class room and attend to some sanitation business.

everyone gets sick, it's life, and one cannot control it. but how you deal with it, how you react when you do sneeze all over yourself, those are things you can control. be a good citizen. and when you think no one is watching, you're wrong. i guarantee it.