Lessons still need to be learned. It seems…

Jules Heartly | March 13th, 2020.

When I was six-years-old, I used to go to my classmate Noemi’s house right after school, do homework and pretend we could sing popular songs.  There was this time, when we skipped our routine to go and visit Tricia, a classmate who had missed school due to a bad cold.  We spent time in Tricia’s bedroom and helped her to be up-to-date with homework. 

When we got back from our visit, Noemi’s grandmother, our sitter, invited us to have coffee and fresh-made cookies.

My friend Noemi ran straight to the cookie sheet.  Her grandmother reprimanded her.  “Wash your hands!  You want to stay healthy. Or wait, do you want to be sick?”  My girlfriend quickly wet her hands and then dried them down on her clothes.  Her grandma  reprimanded her again, “do wash them with soap not even once but twice!”  But, it was too late, my girlfriend was already devouring the cookies.

A few days later,  Noemi developed a cold, and couldn’t go to our class field trip. Her grandmother scolded her: “Eso es para que aprendas!” (“ You are going to learn the hard way!”)

Or how we would say now.. “I told you so”.

The memory of her painful sickness and the fear of missing any other school field trip made her an expert in hygiene.  She always made sure we had our hands properly washed, carried tissues, and never sneezed or coughed on anything else but on a handkerchief.

At that time, in school, we had a required class :  “Civism.  Good manners and how to behave in our society”.   My girlfriend became the class model. She was called by the teacher to give “testimony” of the importance of observing good hygiene.

The text book for the class was one written in late 1800 by Manuel Carreño, a writer and Politician. The  book – already considered an antique at the time- was nevertheless a must subject for elementary school students. It contained lessons and tips on how people should behave in public and private places, such as home, family, school, and work.

This memory of my childhood came back to me, yesterday, as I was experiencing the ongoing anxiety over how to best prevent the spreading of the #coronavirus.  I remembered, it all was spelled out there, in the text book from second-grade.

So, for the purpose of this blog, I tracked down the book, the same one written in Spain, in  1853 and taught in Spain and Latin America until probably some 30 years ago. I was amazed to read some of its recommendations and how if we’d have learned, practiced them and passed them thru all the new generations,  perhaps we could have avoided the feeling of panic injected to us through all the media.

That particular lesson in the book reads like this:

  “X. — Our hands are the most exposed part of our bodies, therefore we must wash them often and wash them well with soap and for enough time so we cannot even dare to suspect they are not perfectly clean.

XI — It is a lack of hygiene to use the hands to cover your mouth or nose when sneezing or coughing,  and even more if you do so in front of other people.  Always use a handkerchief (or paper tissue)  and avoid exposing other people to even your breath.

XII — When coughing or sneezing happens turn your head and use the handkerchief or cover your face under your elbow to avoid that your breath contaminates the air that could be inhaled by the surrounding people.”

As I said, all these were written by Manuel A. Carreño in 1853!   Now, during the recent weeks, there has been so much said and broadcasted everywhere, (TV shows, radio Shows, WhatsApp messages, FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) about the Importance of good hygiene to prevent getting and/or spreading diseases, like the flu and now the #covid-19.

Are we just learning this in the XXI century?  What happened to this society?  Where are the teachings that our grandparents and our great grandparents and great great grandparents spent so much time and patience giving to all their generations?

I think this crazy moment we are living,  is Carreño’s and our great great grand parents’ revenge (😉 ) for not listening, learning and practicing their teachings in a  good way, and they are asking us, do you really need to experience #fear and #pain to do what is right? And to learn a lesson?

So I suggest, we put them at ease, and taking advantage of all this extra time a lot of people may have to spend with their kids due to the #Covid-19 school closings and working from home etc.,  teach the kids, and fellow adults in a fun lasting way, all the good manners and good hygiene, we are now forced to keep.

We can prove our ancestors wrong and teach it all through a fun activity.  For example using one of the many clean your hands songs, like this fun and catchy “washy washy happy happy “ from Norwegian Cruises which was implemented years ago way before the current pandemic.

We cannot afford to upset our ancestors again 😉 so let’s show them we have learned the lesson:  Good Manners, Good Hygiene, Good Health and while at it, why not continue this teaching not only at home but at the schools forever. As it seems, the lesson is timeless!

Thank you for reading my blog. Looking forward to reading your comments.

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