So I was at this family reunion and we were having a barbecue at a park. I'm sitting next to my aunt and the whole time she is fanning her hand over her food to keep flies away, even when there are none close by.
Eventually, a fly lands on her burger when she's not looking. When she sees it, she shoos the fly away, and actually breaks off the section of her bread that the fly landed on.

So...I got to thinking....what's the big deal about "germs?"

I mean, in America (and I'm assuming many other parts of the world) we are pretty much bred to be germophobes. (for lack of the actual word) Everything here is "anitbacterial" this, and "Kills 99.999999999 and 3/4 germs" that. Most families teach their kids that "if something falls on the floor, at the dinner table, it's no longer edible," because of "germs."

My question is "Why?"

I mean, don't get me wrong, cleanliness is a good thing, to certain extents, but isn't fighting off "germs" what we have an immune system for?

Doesn't the in-your-face pushing of antibacterials on the public undermine the immune system, itself, leaving us to much more easily contract illness when we are without those products because of an underworked immune system?

People that are constantly cleaning their homes (I mean obsessively constant), especially if they have kids, are not giving their kids' immune systems anything to work with. No reason to strengthen or evolve. They are relying on the bottled antibacterials to pre-empt exposure to anything. Isn't that harmful to society?

So I'm curious, what do you guys think about germs? Do you do everything you can to avoid them? Do you not care about them at all, in any quantity? Are you undecided? What?