I bought this new bathroom cleaning spray.
It’s made by some “natural” company that must be trying to get new customers because it was a really good deal, and they had a few fragrances in their product line-up that piqued my interest. I went with the mandarin orange scent, and for the most part, I like it. It smells lovely, and it seems to clean alright. But if you know me at all, then you know I’m suspicious of the cleaning power of a woo woo cleaner versus the germ-fighting power of a good old fashioned chemically-based Lysol.
Anyway…
I actually bought this cleaner a month or so ago, and the last time I was wiping down the countertop and sink in my bathroom, I noticed this very long list of things the company wanted me to know about their line of cleaning products. The list was really long and it included things you’d expect from a natural company, like “Cruelty-Free Testing,” and “All Natural Ingredients.” But then, toward the bottom of the slightly braggy and totally ridiculous list, the company stated that this particular bathroom cleaning spray is both “Gluten-Free” and “Vegan.”
Seriously?
Gluten-Free AND Vegan?
Does that really matter?
Maybe it does. I don’t really know for sure because I don’t have any gluten sensitivities, and, I’m not all that well-versed on the ins-and-outs of being a Vegan. But it really did seem strange to me — like overkill, if I’m being honest — which is problematic when I consider the fact that this is supposedly a cruelty-free product! (he, he!) But I’m willing to concede that there’s something I might be missing about cleaning supplies in the world of others, but I’m just going to be plain about it: it seems really silly to me.
Then, as I kept reading below this excessive list of product features, there was a warning in all caps that stated that this product should never be “ingested” or used in any way other than directed by the manufacturer — which, when I checked my spray bottle of Lysol Lemon Scented Disinfectant, is the identical warning language for my favorite chemical spray! This then made me think, perhaps my Lysol is also gluten-free, and maybe it’s even vegan, too!
I can’t imagine Lysol has any dairy or animal products in it, right?
And…I’ve never been tempted to drink it (which may or may not surprise you!!)
When you think about cleaning as much as I do, things like this can take up major chunks of thinking time — which as you can tell, reading this product label absolutely did! But as my thoughts started to spool out and overlap with other thoughts I’ve been pondering lately, I find myself thinking again about how sensitive people are in this world of ours these days.
There was this very common almost nursery-rhyme-like saying when I was a kid that goes like this:
Sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me.
I always tried to believe that was true as a kid. Clearly, the sticks and stones stuff was obviously true, but the name-calling situation often felt concerning in my own little mind. For me, as a wordy kind of person, cruel names sometimes felt like they hit me somewhere deep inside, and even the ones that my classmates used when teasing other kids would leave a mark on me somehow. And sometimes, cruel things other kids would say would leave a painful kind of hickey on my heart that would linger far longer than a bruise.
But I know as a kid, I mostly just powered through any verbal hits I took, and I guess I managed to believe that words could never cause any trauma I couldn’t overcome. So in one respect, I’m thankful that the focus of my childhood made me a little tougher so I could endure things without feeling the need to declare my sensitivities so much. But on the flip side, harming someone else with our fists or our words is incredibly tricky in this world where there are so many more ways to inflict pain on one another.
Maybe it is overkill to make gluten-free and Vegan bathroom spray, but maybe it’s not. All I know is that the world is cruel and no matter what, human beings are sensitive. So if we’re going to go over the top on anything…
