Schmutz.
Translated from Pennsylvania Dutch it basically means dirt.
And in my day when someone told you that you had schmutz on your face,
you knew that was followed by a spit-moistened hanky wiping it away!
Schmutz.
Somewhere along the way we started to think it was a bad thing.
We equated dirt with germs.
I believe this happened as we "progressed" from an agrarian society, to an industrialized one,
and finally to a technological one.
Commercials told us our clothes needed to be cleaner,
our bodies germ-free.
"Try this soap, this detergent, this antibacterial agent."
In this, our unending quest to be healthier we were actually making ourselves unhealthy.
"Bad" bacteria became resistant to antibiotic and antibacterials.
The incidence of childhood allergies skyrocketed.
Why?
A general shortage of Schmutz!
Let's face it...
our bodies are covered in bacteria.
There is now a whole science investigating the beneficial bacteria that live inside our bodies.
There are at least as many bacterial cells in our bodies as there are human cells.
So, let's stop trying to wipe them out.
Let's invite "good" bacteria in for a visit instead!
Tell your kids to go play in the dirt.
Take them to a farm.
Expose them (to stuff... natural dirty stuff!)
Expose them (to stuff... natural dirty stuff!)
Seriously!
We've got plenty of Schmutz to go around!
For more information, you might enjoy reading this article:
I took the photos for this post at our neighbor's farm.
Comments
Peter
Go for a bit of "Schmutz" too . . .
I think my allergies are more from chemicals like pesticides and such. I hope someday I can be allergy free, but I think I will always have some residual allergies.