As a society, we have an obsession with cleanliness—not moderate cleanliness, but a divine level of freshly-bleached and pressed cleanliness.
We daily scrub our skin, launder our clothes, buff our granite countertops, disinfect everything we can. Stew on the old saw, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” We have elevated the concept of ‘washing your hands’ from a basic hygiene issue to a moral imperative. Is it any wonder, then, that we hold ourselves aloof of anyone who seems more than 24 hours from their last shower?
We all like our spotless hotel towels, but at what cost?
Overuse of antibacterial soaps and rubs suppresses our immune system and may result in more antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Every load of laundry uses gallons and gallons of cleaned, filtered, purified water. Then there are the detergents, wastewater treatment, electrical and/or natural gas energy usage, etc, etc, blah, blah. What about time? How many hours do we spend each day/week/month/year scrubbing ourselves and the world around us?
And for crying out loud, what about the tension we all feel at the prospect of sullying our precious clothes and bodies? How many times have we resisted doing what we wanted, when we wanted, because we might get dirt under our fingernails?
Kids don’t have this problem. Our boys will gladly wear their favorite outfits until Holly forces their removal. They never resist playing in the river or sitting on the shore for fear of the consequences to their clothes. As parents, we so often scold them, but maybe they should be scolding us, “Dad, relax. Wade through the river with me, it’s just mud. You and your obsession with cleanliness, for shame! For shame!”
Maybe I’m just trying to justify how I smell after days of hiking and camping Arches National Park, Utah. I certainly wouldn’t mind a shower now. The people at the nice restaurant where we stopped for lunch probably agree…or maybe they don’t care. Perhaps we don’t actually smell that bad a few days removed from running water. Maybe as a society, we are driving ourselves nuts and wasting our time and resources chasing God-like cleanliness for nothing.
What do you think?
I want to know where you find these fantastic pictures. But yes, too much ‘treatment’ and we never develop immunities. I suppose if you are smelly enough to notice yourself, then maybe it’s time to take a dip. But, nothing beats a dip in a river, and a shower after miles and miles of hiking and/or a solid workout is the best reward.
Yes, all good things in moderation! We do all our own stunts, that photo is from a day hike we took near the Colorado River.
We felt that way two weeks ago, camping in Maine, after five days without a shower and daily very close proximity to a campfire to boot! It made that long anticipated shower so much better! Really, it was divine.
i worry about water availability and i am one who likes to be clean … we live in such a privileged place to not have to walk miles with buckets for our potable water… i believe that water should be a resource we consider at all times… how clean it is, where we find it, how we are helping others globally secure safe water sources, how do we make sure that all the companies like coke are not buying up all the water rights in developing world so they can sell it back in plastic bottles. I fear that if you get me started (which you have) you will have a pretty long diatribe. xo
You’re in my home state during this part of your adventure. Oh Utah, you are glorious! I love reading these adventures, and want to join your mentality to enjoy the dirt a bit more. The kids get it right!