"Nice to meet you...due to the H1N1, we won't shake hands...I'm trying to make a point of that".
Sound like a Muslim? Actually, that came from our school public health nurse, who isn't Muslim.
More and more, I hear non-Muslims talking about feeling uncomfortable shaking hands because they are worried about catching the swine flu. So they decline shaking hands, and nobody really flinches -- in fact, they likely feel relieved.
Interesting that when it pertains to our physical well-being, nobody seems to mind, but when it has a spiritual basis, people are "offended". So it isn't really the refusal to shake hands that offends people, it's the impetus. All of this bespeaks the times we live in -- people are ever so concerned that their bodies, their external be healthy and well, but they criticize and ridicule those who have such concerns about their spiritual, or internal health.
How open-minded are we as a society -- really?
Food for thought.
