Clean. But with soul.

For Global Handwashing Day — October 15

A word by the sink:
If the world around you feels too complicated —
start with the simplest thing:
place your palms
under warm water.

I.

October fifteenth.
A day when humanity is gently and politely reminded:
— Wash your hands.

Because you are a living person
who since morning has already managed to touch everything in sight:

a door handle,
a button in the elevator,
a smartphone screen —
a personal archive of fingerprints
and small stories of the day,
and cash —
paper bills that have been
in so many strangers' pockets
that they themselves have long been dreaming
of a rest.

We proudly repeat:
Homo sapiens — the wise one.
But after the subway, the supermarket, and social media,
it sounds far more accurate:
Homo Touching-Everything-in-Sight.

And then the fifteenth rolls around:
— That's it. Take a break.
Off to the sink.

II.

The sink is a small domestic stage.
Water rushes into the light with a murmur.
Soap appears in the hands
with the air of a master
who knows exactly what to do.

It's slippery —
exactly like an elusive truth:
you think you've almost caught it by the tail —
and now you're searching for it again
under the bathtub.

Twenty seconds.
In this blessed span of time, you can:
change your mind about being offended,
remember whether you turned the iron off,
or quietly hum
a fragment of the mugham "Bayati-Shiraz".

In Baku, this sounds especially convincing.
Microbes may not understand words,
but they feel the ancient mode unmistakably.

And you just wash your hands.
And for the first time in this frantic day,
you aren't grabbing at anything.
Except the foam.

Memo:
Before touching someone else's life — stop.
Before barging into someone else's argument — think.
And before writing a comment
that you will remember for years —
go wash your hands with soap first.
And reread what you wrote three times.

III.

History remembers Dr. Semmelweis too:
he asked doctors to wash their hands
and saved thousands of lives long before
the world deigned to hear him.

Hence a simple lesson:
Washing your hands is caring.

Yesterday we were checking standards and regulations.
Today the time has come
to examine our own palms.

— Do you follow the rules?
— By the book, I can't say.
But by conscience — I wash them spotless.

Because today "washing your hands"
does not mean stepping aside,
but gently taking this fragile world
into your own clean hands.

IV.

In an old Baku courtyard,
a silver-haired aksakal
unhurriedly places his palms under the stream,
dries them with a linen towel,
and smiles:
— Now we can sit down to the plov.

To eat plov with your hands is an Eastern art.
To eat plov with clean hands —
is the highest respect for the home and the bread.

Soap doesn't ask you
what you've gotten up to today.
Water simply washes away what
is meant to be washed away.

And human kindness
needs hygiene sometimes too:
so that when we embrace those near to us,
we don't pass along
the dust of the road and the day's hustle.

V.

On the fifteenth of October,
go and wash your hands.
Not for a checkmark on the calendar.
Not for a report.
For yourself.

With these hands
you hug your mother.
You hold hot bread from the tandyr.
You pour tea for guests into armud glasses.
You touch the world.

Let your palms be clean,
and everything they touch —
be kind, where possible,
and warmed.

The main recommendation of the Heart:
wash your hands with soap
for at least twenty seconds.
And add warmth and a smile
generously, to taste.

Happy Global Handwashing Day!

Wash your hands before eating.
And keep kind thoughts close
not only before sleep —
but every time it quietly
asks to be heard.

And if after the most thorough washing
you still feel like
needling someone
or splashing your emotions onto a screen —
it means you've washed only your skin.
You should have washed your thoughts.

And thoughts aren't washed
with soap.

They are cleansed by:
a deep breath of mountain thyme,
a sip of scalding tea
while the wild Baku khazri blows outside the window,
and a simple, courageous word:
"Forgive me,"
spoken aloud
and straight from the heart.

Alin Ak / KaJe MeG
By the standard. But with soul.
— And with clean hands.