February 21, 2013 Linsay Cheney

lcheney@connectstatesboro.com

    Remember when your teacher taught you way back in kindergarten that “sharing is caring”? Well, your teacher was wrong. So was mine.
    I suppose that if someone shares something with you that he or she somehow values, you can reasonably assume that person cares for you, at least on some level — your well-being, your friendship, your feelings. Some things worth sharing include the following:
    •  toys
    •  a blanket
    •  snacks and homemade lunches
    •  crayons
    •  your pool in the summer
    But that’s only one side of this whole sharing thing. My teacher taught us, her young, innocent, impressionable students, that “sharing is caring” as though it was some kind of almighty, everlasting truth.
    Wrong.
    In my wise old age, I’ve come to discover that some things — many, many things — are simply not meant to be shared. In fact, if someone shares these things with you, you can reasonably assume that person couldn’t care less for you or your well-being. Things that should never be shared include the following:
    •  underwear
    •  lice, scabies, etc.
    •  prison sentences
    •  boy- and/or girlfriends
    •  STDs
    •  germs
    Oh, germs. They’re shared freely when people don’t wash their hands and cover their mouths to cough — which, by the way, also are things we learned to do way back in kindergarten.
    As I write this column, I’m popping cough drops and clutching a Kleenex. My throat hurts, my body aches, and the only place I want to be is back in bed. I’m sick, and it’s all because some jerk decided to share their nasty germs with me.
    Ain’t nobody got time for that.

    Linsay Cheney is the editor of Connect Statesboro. Get in touch with her at lcheney@connectstatesboro.com.

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