Sharing Germs--Jacob

December: The most festive time of the year when families spend joyous nights setting

up Christmas trees or lighting candles for Kwanzaa or Hannukah. However, I found myself in constant awareness of my surroundings as the month was also the second most active time for the flu. “Achoo!” Someone in my biology class just sneezed and covered it with their hands. Disgusting. Even the script of the onomatopoeia ​makes me cringe. Proudly making it past the eighth grade as a mild germaphobe, I had already endured the worst. From the dripping snot of fellow kindergarteners to the demonstration of the five-second rule by my fourteen-year-old peers, my experiences prepared me for anything high school would throw at me. A bottle of hand sanitizer was clipped upon my right belt loop, just in case I accidentally touched chewed gum stuck underneath the desk. Or even worse, if someone would ask to “shake my hand”: an immense exchange of microbes that a person has collected throughout the day. The bell rang to end class and I stayed behind for lunch to avoid as much human contact as possible. However, when I stood up to talk to my teacher, her co-teacher, Andy, placed himself uncomfortably close to me and attempted to lick me. Luckily, I avoided and left the classroom promptly. Although disturbed by the moment then, this behavior was not unorthodox of Andy. 

Andy was known for greeting people with his tongue, leaving a wad of saliva on each of their faces. Being the germaphobe that I was, I was repelled by the idea of it​—​but also intrigued.

As I was struck with a cold about two times a year in week-long periods, Andy was always present at school in a healthy state. So I started studying the human immune system. After some online browsing and YouTube videos later, I learned that when an unknown microorganism enters the lymph nodes, lymphocytes familiarize themselves with what is being presented to them and utilize that information for future action. I finally understood what Andy’s goal was: He wanted to achieve virtual immunity by forcing his body to accept any pathogens that were unknown to him. I later realized that society is constructed similarly. In order to initiate change, unrecognized ideas need to be shared with the community, and the community will respond back. This is evident in our history, even dating back to the Founding Fathers, as they presented new ideas back and forth on how our country should run through the Federalist and Antifederalist papers. Albert Einstein put the world in awe with the Theory of Relativity, which would be later challenged by the subject of quantum physics. I wanted to pursue the same conviction in my own way—large or small. 

Inspired by my background in helping my grandmother in her backyard throughout my childhood, I founded the Botanical Gardening Club to educate my peers on the native foliage that lay within our grounds. This was done by teaching the members about plants such as the Lacy Phacelia and informed them of facts like the plant’s growth period and its maximum height. Incorporated with hands-on activities such as serving at local community gardens and farms, the club used their hands to root out weeds and cultivate the Southern California culture. More importantly, however, I was also able to learn from my members. Through their suggestions that ranged from t-shirt designs to social event ideas, I was able to get a better gauge on how a successful club works and ended up creating a new family at school. 

I also found sharing in my life outside of school. Within my friend group, an exchange of our different backgrounds was evident in the numerous discussions of controversial topics such as the protests in Hong Kong to the legacy of Robert Mugabe. With these small seminars that occurred within our group chat on WhatsApp, each of us was able to gain an understanding of everyone’s opinion as each statement was listened to and tolerated before being combated with our own. This created a new learning process for me outside of school, as I obtained perspectives aside from my own, contributed from my friends whose backgrounds varied in gender, culture, and ideology. 

As my freshman year went by, I gradually outgrew my germaphobia, leaving the bottle of hand sanitizer behind. Now, when I introduce myself to new people, I welcomingly shake their hand in hopes of exchanging germs​—​my experiences and knowledge with theirs​—​and search for more, adapting and conforming to new ideas to become better.