The Lincoln Log

For the past two days, I stood like a stone statue glued to the wet floor of the girls’ restroom. But I camouflaged myself, whether it was fixing their hair in the mirror or chatting on the cell phone when they’re supposed to be in class, I saw it all. No, I am not neither a peeping tom nor do I have a fetish for smelly rooms. I am simply observing cleanliness of Abraham Lincoln High School, or more specifically, the hygiene of Lincoln students.

I studied the whole process of the daily bathroom routine. It’s a process that you are repeatedly taught since you were a kid, less than two feet tall. After going to the bathroom, you would normally wash your hands, cleansing them of bacteria. I assumed that girls would all wash their hands. After observing 20 girls go through their routines, 17 out of 20 girls washed their hands, whereas three didn’t. Using this study and applying it to all female students, this means that fifteen percent of girls don’t wash their hands. In a group of twenty of your girlfriends, three people did not wash their hands.

My fellow co-writer studied the boy’s bathroom. He observed that nine of 20 did not wash their hands after using the toilet. Applying this information to the male gender of Lincoln students, this would amount to 45 percent not washing their hands. This means among a group of twenty of your guy friends, eight of them does not wash their hands. This is a 30 percent difference between genders. What does this mean for us all of us together?

By applying this study to our whole Lincoln population, 30 percent of us do not wash our hands. Imagine sitting in your class of 30, roughly four of your classmates didn’t perform the small task of rinsing their hands. So think twice again before lending a pencil to your neighbor.

I’m not even mentioning the estimated of those who do wash their hands might not even be washing their hands correctly. Most of the time, the restrooms lack soap in the dispensers. When we do have soap, it’s way watered down and the water is always ice cold. According to kidshealth.org, the correct way to eliminate all germs and bacteria is to first use warm water. Grab a soap and rub fiercely all over your hands including your palms, wrist, between your fingers and your finger tips. Laver the soap for at least 15 seconds and rise throughly and then pat dry. Watching 20 girls wash their hands, I believe most just rise their hands through barely dripping water for less than five seconds.

Consider the fact that washing hands is one of the best ways to prevent spreading bacteria and infections to yourself and others. Throughout the day, we pick up various types of bacteria, which are killed after the act of a simple rinse. However, when we don’t and we go on to do other things such as touch our face, eat and touch everything in sight, it leads to the very common cold- the flu and man even result in diarrhea. Dirty hands many also result in food poisoning with symptoms that include nausea or vomiting. Is that really worth it? Take a farer step to prevent yourself from getting sick. It’s not much to do, just one minute of rubbing soap and water through your hands to make Lincoln a cleaner place.