During Hurrican Rita, my older brother (who is in a wheelchair) had his house demolished, and so he and his wife came to stay with us for awhile. It would have been more practical and more fitting if he had gone to his son's house which is much larger (we were cramped) and is also quite a bit closer to his home. He did not do that. Why?
The villain here is this penchant toward cleanliness. His son's wife will not allow dogs in her house (my brother has 2 small dogs) and she will most certainly not allow anyone to smoke in her house (heaven forbid!). Hell, nobody is allowed even to smoke in her yard. Her house is immaculate, and she means to keep it that way.
At our house things are rather different. Visitors can do what they like (well, almost). But nonetheless I have found concerns with cleanliness creeping into my habits. We used to have indoor-outdoor pets. However, no matter what we did, we couldn't get rid of all the fleas. So now we have either strictly outdoor pets or strictly indoor pets. So as a result of this concern about cleanliness, my brother was prevented from staying with his son and I am kept from the pleasure of having indoor-outdoor pets. Did a few fleas really matter that much?
This is a trend of modern society. We are kept from otherwise pleasurable or helpful activities by our creeping concern with cleanliness. At bottom, I think there's a snobbish motive at work here.
This message has been edited by robinrohan, 11-21-2005 07:53 PM
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