OP-ED: Penn’s Hand Foot Mouth Epidemic Can Be Brutal, but It’s One of the Best Things About It

Penn has recently been infected with hand, foot, and mouth disease, which usually attacks small children and produces flu-like symptoms, along with sores on the hands, feet, and mouths of the infected.  

The disease can be brutal, but having it makes you realize just how lucky you are to be a living person with hands, feet, and a mouth. Additionally, HFMD is only short-term, so after a few days you’ll be free of the virus’ miserable grasp.  This struggle will no doubt add to any Penn student’s mental fortitude and physical resolve, though everyone would clearly be better off if it had never come to Penn. 

On top of midterms, social pressure, and the constant weight of Penn’s high standards, HFMD will feel like nothing.  In fact, if we all agree to spread the disease as much as possible, it might even bring us together. Of course, this concept might be difficult to grasp for those of us who see college as a competition.  

So, even though this uncomfortable disease can be brutal, it is certainly one of the best things about Penn. What else would motivate us to truly appreciate our appendages?