On Sneezing…

One of my major pet peeves (I have a lot) is when somebody sneezes in a room full of people and nobody says “Bless you” or “Gesundheit or even a surprised “Woowee!”

Bitch I just sneezed. Can you please at least acknowledge that, wtf?

As humans, we have many similarities that bind us- in particularly bodily functions and come on- sneezing is universal! It doesn’t matter if you are Black, White or Asian if you are tall or short, heavy or skinny if you like cheese, salt or sugar in your grits- everybody at some point in their life has sneezed!

I don’t care if I’m at a gas station at two in the morning, buying two late night Little Debbie snacks two aisles over and someone sneezes- I’m gonna throw a polite and sturdy bless you their way. I hear you, I feel you, I acknowledge that you exist. Bless you.

It won’t matter if we are in the middle of a heated argument and I’m calling you every name but the child of God- sneeze and watch me say bless you and go right back to gathering your life and reading your rights.

This all came about because I sneezed twice yesterday in a crowded room and no one said “Bless you” or even looked my way and I was slightly offended lol. I paused to give people time to swallow their juice, spit, words, whatever was keeping them from saying anything to me and still nothing. I sneezed again to open air and silence and was disappointed and pissed, like come onnnnn!

#Firstworldproblems I know lol!

When you sneeze, you are caught up in the most involuntarily vulnerable state- your body freezes up and folds together, your face gets all scrunched up and ugly, your eyes clamp shut and you just lose it! And then you release a gust of germs so powerful they spew everywhere and all you have is your bare arm or maybe a thin piece of tissue to stop the spread if you are lucky.

It’s not pretty. You feel super exposed and defenseless- don’t you want somebody to be like- “Hey sister/brother, I feel you. I too have sneezed before and I KNOW how it feels, we are in this together and ‘Bless you.’ No? Just me? Ok…

All I’m saying is, it doesn’t take much time and it’s not hurting you to say ‘Bless You, ‘Gesundheit’, or at least give a nice strong nod in solidarity and understanding after someone sneezes. It’s the small things like this that tie family, friends, co-workers and complete strangers together, why not take a moment to acknowledge when someone sneezes near you?

So if you sneezed yesterday, today, as you are reading this or will sneeze later on sometime this week, let me be the first to say it: Bless you. Now say it someone else.