Clean Hands Week

No, not Lady McBeth's "out damn spot" speech.

No, not like the way Pontius Pilot washed his hands of it.

Believe it or not, September 18-24 is Clean Hands Week. If you want to start celebrating now, you can send a free "clean hands" e-card from this link.

And although I am genuinely amused by a week dedicated to clean hands, the nurse in me feels the need to announce that hand washing is the number one thing people can do to keep from getting sick and spreading germs and sickness.

So wash your hands. But you don't have to be compulsive about it. If you think you might be compulsive about washing your hands, you can find information here about that. Just lather up with some soap and water and sing the Happy Birthday song twice to yourself as you scrub.

Hey, even if you'd rather get one of those alcohol-based hand sanitizers, that's better than nothing to bide you over until you can use real soap and water. (Just be aware there's a lot of heebie-jeebies that those sanitizers don't kill... like Clostridium Difficile.)

A common metaphor links washing your hands to 'come clean' from stuff you've done that you regret. I've really gotten a kick out of this site, which gives you the opportunity to anonymously fess up (or read other people's confessions: 26% of people confess that they didn't wash their hands; don't be one of them! 32% of people on this website confessed to picking their nose this week.) What will you confess?

Feeling dirty? Break out the streamers and wine, it's time to celebrate clean hands!

Start a revolution by actually doing what your kindergarten teacher told you to do.