Henceforth Fist Bumps

I've gone several years without getting a cold. There's nothing like countermeasures for a global pandemic to blast minor perils off your screen.

Sunday, I reluctantly shook hands with three healthy-seeming individuals (I intended to wash quickly afterwards, but got distracted). Today, I'm starting to sniffle and sneeze.

Don't mistake me here. I'm not going all Michael Crichton on this. I'm vaccinated, so even if this were COVID (I doubt it), there are overwhelming odds that it would manifest as mildly as a cold.

So while my risk range is modest, one should consider risk/reward for even modest risks, and it occurs to me that I certainly don't love a firm handshake anywhere near as much as I dislike a cold. Other forms of physical contact may be worth risking phlegmy coughs, thermometers, and chicken soup. But handshakes just aren't that great.

By the same token, I've generally declined joints when they circled toward me (pre-COVID), but I at least considered the prospect, because cannabis offers something. A tobacco cigarrette, being all risk with no discernible reward, is beyond consideration.

So it's fist bumps for me from here on out, whenever possible (elderly female relatives or gravitas people might be tough fist bump candidates), even though I'm definitely not a fist-bump kind of guy.