Rhinovirus

The nose knows - R is for rhinovirus; that horny little bugger (otherwise known as an infectious agent) which is a chief cause of the common cold.

Little did I know that a prehistoric mammal, the rhino, was the first to complain of feeling too sick to graze or thunder-hoof into town. Not an easy thing to deal with for a creature so used to nosing its way along in life.

Like so many matters that defy easy explanation, the common cold is something to which we're genetically disposed as herd animals. No amount of sanitary precaution, like the armor-vest of the rhino, is able to compensate for the fact that we like to be with others who aren't germ-phobic. Maybe it's just too awkward to screen our family and friends the way we screen our windows and hermetically seal our food.

But before you start avoiding others like the plague, think of the advantages of having people around and living in a community. There's usually someone to blame for your problems and dis-ease. There's probably someone to care for you when you get sick. And there's that network of associations that enlarge your individual life, scope and sphere of influence.

Yeah, that's why everyone's networking and, snap, I feel another virus coming on.