Last weekend I returned from a lovely, restful weekend trip to San Francisco. As I boarded the red-eye back to New York, I found myself hoping that just this once, I would have the ideal flying neighbor–the non-existent one.<\/p>\n
What I got instead was a middle-aged man, sniffling, sneezing, coughing his way through the 5-hour trip. I am the opposite of a hypochondriac–I spend most of my time denying disease and infection exist. But this really threw me.<\/p>\n
Come on, man! Ever heard of swine flu? And by the way, you just sneezed all over me…sorry I just happen to be sitting so close<\/i>. Also, don’t worry if I can’t hear my movie because your hacking cough is SO LOUD; I’ll just jack up the volume.<\/p>\n
As I covertly gave him the evil eye (covert only because he was so wrapped up in his illness it would have taken a punch to the face to get his attention), I also envisioned the movie “Outbreak” in my head. I composed angry letters to this man asking him how in @!$$#@ he had justified getting on the plane that night when obviously he was harboring infection. He might as well be a terrorist! (I kid).<\/p>\n
Should he have gotten off the plane? Cancelled his trip? He was most likely much like me; returning from a lovely weekend vacation and desperate to get back home. There’s nothing you want more than your own bed when you’re sick.<\/p>\n
And canceling your trip? That costs money! At least it does if the airline gods don’t take kindly to you and don’t cut you a break.<\/p>\n
All in all, despite my ire, I have to sympathize with the man’s plight. “What!! Sympathize?” you ask. “You’ve spent the last page getting angry at him for spreading contagion!”<\/p>\n
Weeelll…yes. But I also left out a tiny detail. I was a little sick myself.<\/p>\n
\nNOT as sick as Contagious Carl, but still a little coughy, with a bit
\nof a sore throat. I basically chalked it up to talking a little too
\nmuch and a little too loudly all weekend–at least until I came home
\nand spent the entire week cursing my body for giving in to the summer
\ncold clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n
So should I have gotten off the plane or switched to a later flight?<\/b>
\nThis definitely would have been an expense I could ill-afford. But though I generally don’t take common illnesses too seriously, I’m
\nwell-aware that others do.<\/p>\n
Plus, everywhere we turn, we’re being chastised by the medical media to
\nstay home if you’re feeling ill, don’t travel, don’t go to work.<\/p>\n
So how many people actually take this advice? How many completely
\ndisregard it? (My personal count: 2). It’s pretty easy to stay home
\nfrom work when you’re sick, but you can’t shut down your life. Yet
\nevery time I stepped out of the house this week and gave a little
\ncough, I saw people giving me<\/i> the evil eye and looking at me like I<\/i> was
\nthe terrorist.<\/p>\n
In this age of swine flu pandemics, is there a fair compromise, or was I (and Contagious Carl) simply wrong for sharing our germs with the rest of the world?<\/p>\n