Watching television, you'd think we lived at bay, surrounded on all
sides by human-seeking germs. We are instructed to spray disinfectant
everywhere, into the air of our bedrooms and kitchens and with special
energy into bathrooms. In real life, however, disease occurs so
infrequently that it has a freakish aspect.
-- Lewis Thomas
The chief aim of their constitution and government is tha
whenever public needs permit, all citizens should be free, so far
as possible, to withdraw their time and energy from the service of
the body, and devote themselves to the freedom and culture of the
mind....