I Wanted to Stick My Hand in Dirt


Since I dutifully skim Northeastern's daily e-newsletter that clogs many people's emails, I saw an article linked to the New York Times about beneficial microbes in dirt as the chain of recent newsletters focused on bacteria research. This was near the innately stressful finals week. This was also near when Facebook thankfully informed me that it was World Naked Gardening Day.

Beam me up, sun!

Since I was a prim person in my childhood, I was afraid of getting dirty when "playing" (standing) in the grass at the park or if bugs, particularly ants, would get into weird places. I still feel that I, as a rational person, don't want to get my clothes dirty and sit on the grass, although part of me wants to if laundry wasn't such a hassle.

Anyways, since exams lingered on my mind even though I didn't want them to and didn't study much, I strongly felt that hippie nature would be a much needed boost to my immune system like a completely organic Emergen-C, which I never drank before. Therefore, I saw a big ceramic pot of earthy brown dirt that I wanted to stick my hand in to feel the nutrients. However, I didn't do this at the last minute since I was afraid of strangers seeing and judging me in the unusual act of molesting the dirt.



Now, it's easy to say, "You should have done it" when reading this on the Internet, but imagine if you were in my position of desperately seeking microbes and students were passing by to see an Asian guy with his hand in a pot of dirt. That would be awkward. Sometimes thoughts spring out of an OCD, but I really felt that my body would feel good with my hand touching nature.