I have some sort of viral upper respiratory tract infection. My head is heavy and my sinuses are clogged up. I feel disgusting and all I want to do is sleep for a week. Nyquil would make all of this possible. Unfortunately, I have to go to the hospital and finish the last of my duties as a medical student.
All of this is fairly mundane and pretty much part of a yearly 'flu' season ritual, during which time I greatly miss my mother and act like a big baby. Except this year I'm exceptionally annoyed.
I used to think it was a nice gesture for people to say 'bless you' after sneezes. The entire ritual originated as superstition built to ensure amongst other things that you did not sneeze your soul out and were sheltered from evil. It has since evolved into polite recognition of a loud expulsion of boogers; which instead of making you feel like a big pile of germs, earns you a moment of good will from a fellow human being.
Unfortunately, people frequently mistake my lone dry cough for a sneeze. I hate it. It makes me feel bad for receiving a bless you. I feel like I'm cheating them out of it, because I did not in fact sneeze I coughed. Should I then say 'thanks', or confess that I did not sneeze.
The thank you can get mighty annoying because some people will say bless you every time you sneeze/cough, instead of one all encompassing 'bless you' designed to cover all sneezes for the next 5 minutes. And the confession can result in awkwardness for both the cougher and the 'blesser'.
In short I'd just like my immune system to kick in and be left to purge out the virus without drawing too much attention.
3 comments:
You can beat this cold. You ARE fire.
how did you manage? what DOES one do when people say 'bless you' after a cough?
how did you manage? what DOES one do when people say 'bless you' after a cough?
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