I was called rude yesterday. Not straight up to my face. No, it was after a (somewhat ranting) frustrated response I made to a former student's post about the "unspoken hazards" of vaccines, and that measles isn't actually a deadly disease. The meme stated that unreasonable fear was generated to promote vaccination.
Like, vaccines are some kind of mind-control conspiracy implemented by the government so they can come take your guns, or something.
I'll admit it, seeing people blatantly disregard good science for anecdotal evidence in the face of "it's your decision what to do with your kids" really ticks me off. Not just with respect to vaccines, but anything. Good parenting doesn't mean we sit around in a "Kumbayah" campfire circle trying to reach our inner voice that will speak to us in some sort of magical, enlightened moment, imparting to us centuries of wisdom.
Good parenting means we take the experience of others who have come before us, couple that with good, sound, scientific evidence, and do the best we can to make good choices for our kids' future. It means teaching our kids to make good choices for themselves, but not only just for themselves; we need to teach our children to think outwardly, making good choices for the people around them and society in general. In short, my parents never were so intelligent as the weeks, months, and years following my first child's birth.
So imagine my absolute shock and dismay when one of my former peeps, as I affectionately call my students, was actually considering not vaccinating his children! I mean, I'm a science teacher!! So I explained in a not-so-calm manner that vaccinations protect not only those vaccinated, but those around who cannot, for whatever reason, be vaccinated themselves. I then went on to say I can't believe I have to assert this in 2018.
I think that was the point that was interpreted as rude, but my assertion remains - in this age of presumed enlightenment, having to rehash points that have been argued over and played out in society for decades is absolutely ridiculous.
With apologies to my own children, who are not arrogant, when did 20-somethings become so crazily self-assured, and decide that us Gen X'ers are a bunch of idiots who've effed everything up? Did we do that to our parents? I do remember thinking my parents didn't get it, but I cannot recall a time when their advice and experience as parents, and overall positive members of society, was so dismissively discounted.
I remember when my cousin was visiting with her infant child, and I was playing with him. I tickled his feet and he laughed with delight. My grandmother, who was so well meaning and loving, quickly chastised me, telling me I would make him stutter if I tickled his feet. I was in college and knew there were exactly zero cases of tickling causing stuttering. But I didn't smugly tell my grandmother how stupid she was and that she was rude to say so, and I didn't tell her to stop bullying me to make choices I didn't want to make. I just stopped tickling his feet, and later played with the baby away from my grandmother.
Tickling is not vaccinating. To tickle or not to tickle is something that each parent can decide with little to no consequence beyond the family itself. Vaccinations have a much greater reach.
Absolutely nothing is safe in this world. Nothing. I jokingly say that we'd live a lot longer if it weren't for oxygen and gravity. Gravity tugs on our tissues and pulls them apart, while oxygen attacks different kinds of chemical bonds within cells, breaking them apart and wreaking havoc. However, few doctors would recommend living in a oxygen-free or gravity-free environment. Reality is that every thing we do is a calculated risk. No medical procedure or treatment is completely risk-free. The trash truck just emptied our trash bin, and when I go outside to retrieve it there's a risk I could fall in my driveway and hit my head, or a car could jump the curb and kill me. Why will I retrieve the trash bin? The risk of death or serious injury is very small, almost non-existent. If I had balance or coordination issues, I would probably not retrieve the trash bin and allow my husband or one of the kids to get it.
Vaccinations are the same. There is a very, very small risk of a reaction. It's true. Some people have a greater risk than others. I'm not smart enough to tell you who they are, but your doctor can. We as a society have decided to vaccinate against serious diseases because the risks involved with treatment outweigh the risk of contracting the disease.
Millennials, you are blessed to be far removed from the ravages of most of these diseases. You probably don't really know anyone who had polio, or if you do you're not aware of it. Smallpox, diptheria, pertussis, mumps, measles, and now chicken pox, are all not a thing for kids born today. I had rubella as a baby. That's gone. I had chicken pox as a 7-year-old, and passed it on to my sister and my dad. While my sister and I didn't suffer much, my dad did suffer greatly. He was a very sick man and it worried my mom.
My mom got hepatitis A following a church dinner - several others also got sick with the same illness. Mom had to be hospitalized and my sister, my dad, and I were vaccinated. It was scary to see my mom lying so ill on the sofa while Dad frantically tried to arrange care for my sister and me and get my mom to the hospital.
My dad had polio as a young boy. My grandparents sat up all night, massaging his muscles as they contracted, hoping to avert permanent disfigurement. Their efforts were successful. I worked with a man while in college who knew almost to the day when the polio vaccine was available, because it came just a few weeks too late - he was unable to walk and support his weight without crutches, and used a wheelchair most of the time.
Is this what we want to revert back to? Because that's where we're headed. If you younger parents think for a moment you know better than decades of experience and a whole lot of really, really smart people working tirelessly on medical treatments, do us all a favor and go hole up in a cave somewhere. Don't come out. Stay there with your unvaccinated selves and your increased risk of spreading serious illness. I hope to have grandchildren some day, and I don't want you ruining it for them.
If that's rude, deal with it. This "personal choice" nonsense is ridiculous, selfish, and needs to end.
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