Is it totally sad that so many instances in my life can are mirrored in a Seinfeld episode? The answer, unfortunately, is undoubtedly yes!! But there really are times that something happens to me and I think, that happened on a Seinfeld episode, and inevitably I tell whoever I am with about that episode. Here in the Philippines, I can't do that because nobody here knows Seinfeld... so I'm going to tell you!!
Well, whenever I've sneezed while here in the Philippines, I realized that no one said "God bless you." Sometimes the person who sneezes will excuse him/herself, but that is all. That seems so unnatural to me because I say "God bless you" every time someone sneezes. Usually it is met with laughter... sort of oh-that's-weird nervous laughter. It seems even in sneezing there is a culture clash!! So I explain that when you sneeze your heart stops beating, so if you should die while sneezing, you die with God's blessing and you'll go straight to heaven. Now I've got everyone believing that their heart stops beating and saying "God bless you" all the time.
There's only one problem... I don't know who actually ever told me that your heart stops beating when you sneeze, but it is so not true!! After explaining it a few times to people, I finally questioned the truth of my claim, so I looked it up. Yeah... the heart is like a built-in pace maker, something my grandmother sweetly called her pacer, and can continue beating through all sorts of bodily interruptions, including sneezes. There is also a claim that when you sneeze evil spirits can enter your body and saying "God bless you" can keep them from coming in. Another one is that your eyes can pop out of your head if you sneeze with your eyes open. All of these are myths and have no medical or scientific evidence to back them up.
So, what is with the "God bless you" then? Why say it? In one Seinfeld episode, Elaine and Jerry were sitting on the couch in Jerry's apartment discussing nothing as usual, and they began talking about sneezes and were asking each other why people say "God bless you" after sneezing. Then Jerry said that he thought it would be nicer to say "You look sssooooo good" whenever anyone sneezed; that it would make people feel really good about themselves. For me, even knowing that no harm can come to you from a normal sneeze, I still will say "God bless you." For one, it is a habit so ingrained that I don't even think about it any more... someone sneezes and I automatically say "God bless you." For another reason, bringing God into normal every day living is never, ever a bad thing!! So while you may look ssssooooo good, even after sneezing, I will continue to give my blessing and ask for God to bless you.
However, now there are a bunch of Oikos scholars roaming around Borongan thinking that your heart stops beating when you sneeze... what to do...what to do...
Next post is my 4th month post!!! xxoo
