Touched a drug addict

[NotCool]

Hey, I'm back again with another week's episode of "Irrational fears overblown".

Visited a store today and saw what looked like a female drug addict asking for money in front of it, as it happens many times. She asked for money and I kind of with frustration said that I don't have any.

Inside the store I started feeling a bit guilty that I said it in that manner, so on the way back I scraped some spare change and prepared to give it to her. While I was giving it to her, tiny part of my finger slightly scraped for a split second with her hand, like a miniscule touch, and then I saw that she had bad skin on her hand, some red marks and maybe scab or something like that, could be from the needles or whatever, or just a side effect of drugs.

I felt immediate regret, followed by anger at myself and her, followed by fear. What if I caught something from her hand? Some disease? I know that the worst case scenarios like HIV or Hepatitis PROBABLY isn't in game, but maybe something else. I was extra diligent while driving home to not bring that finger close to my eyes, nose or mouth, and when I came home I scrubbed and washed my hand intensely.

The thoughts won't leave my head this evening. They probably will tomorrow, and I'll probably find this episode absurd in a few days. But damn this susceptibility of mine to get so worked up over triggers like that.

[ServerError]

People who work with and care for the homeless do a lot more than make the tiniest little contact with them. I've seen them hugging in the street over here, and occasionally physically restraining them.

There is very little in the way of certainty in life, but come on, just accept that you did a nice thing that helped somebody a little and move on. The worst thing that might conceivably happen is you get a cold, but a person doesn't have to be homeless to pass one of those on.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's a classic contamination post really.

Think how many times a day our police officers have to man handle substance abusers, the homeless, etc. They would be walking around in Hazmat suits if this were an issue.

And part of the classic I feel in this is the Cognitive Distortions involved. You ate focusing on her because of how she looks yet how many other people have you touched in the last month? Disease doesn't care about social standing.