Friday, July 16, 2010
Overcoming "blah"
It's been a week plus of that around here, between hubby getting over a rather nasty intestinal flu & the extreme heat & humidity in our little corner of the world. Right now I'm dawdling while awaiting the last of the laundry I need to pack for a weekend out of town. Any suggestions on how to purge this stunning lack of excitement?
Saturday, July 10, 2010
I'm confused
To quote The Who, "Talkin' 'bout my generation..." Mine has been one of the most fortunate generations in the history of the United States, if not the entire world. When you think about it, it truly has.
We who are now in our mid forties can recall watching the first lunar landing when we were young children. We learned the preamble to the Constitution and about governmental proceudre because they were serenading us as Schoolhouse Rock "commercials" between our otherwise interminable Saturday morning cartoons. ("I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill, & I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill...")
As pre-teens we helped celebrate the 200th birthday of the USA. As young adults graduating during the Reagan administration, the few of us who volunteered for active duty in the armed forces didn't leave the country to fight a war somewhere (except for those few sent to Grenada). Our defining incidents were such things as we were too young to understand fully (Watergate) or that occurred after we were beyond the age of 30 (9/11).
One other positive our generation had going for us: we were required to be immunized against such scourges to our parents' generation as polio, whooping cough, and rubella (aka German measles) to such an extent that polio is practically non-existent in North America today, & the other two have become rather uncommon in most quarters. So imagine my shock, dismay, & frustration when I read on a website committed to fostering knowledge among new mothers about women who are CHOOSING not to have their babies & toddlers immunized because of an exaggerated claim that vaccines cause autism!
I am the mother of four (ranging in age from two adults in their early 20s down to an 11 year old), all of whom got their MANDATORY (for school enrollment) immunizations on schedule throughout their lives. I am also a social worker with particular responsibility for emotionally disturbed children in the foster care system, & part of my job is to ensure that these youths also get their shots on time. Yes, in a few studies investigating the possible causes of autism, someone came up with the rather remote possibility that the immunizations given to infants & toddlers MIGHT in some cases be implicated as a POSSIBLE cause. I've read it too.
But...when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is openly, publicly acknowledging that immunization of young children is a positive thing in the vast majority of cases, WHY would you resist having your child vaccinated--again, these are REQUIRED for school enrollment--& risk serious illness & the possible death of your child?!?
I'm sure the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be spinning in his grave if he knew parents were WILLINGLY taking such risks with their children, particularly since he himself was a polio victim who was determined NOT to let that ailment slow him down a bit...in the pre-Salk vaccine era when parents had NO CHOICE in the matter. I can't understand why you'd willingly take such a risk with your child's future. It strikes me as a heinous form of Russian roulette.
We who are now in our mid forties can recall watching the first lunar landing when we were young children. We learned the preamble to the Constitution and about governmental proceudre because they were serenading us as Schoolhouse Rock "commercials" between our otherwise interminable Saturday morning cartoons. ("I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill, & I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill...")
As pre-teens we helped celebrate the 200th birthday of the USA. As young adults graduating during the Reagan administration, the few of us who volunteered for active duty in the armed forces didn't leave the country to fight a war somewhere (except for those few sent to Grenada). Our defining incidents were such things as we were too young to understand fully (Watergate) or that occurred after we were beyond the age of 30 (9/11).
One other positive our generation had going for us: we were required to be immunized against such scourges to our parents' generation as polio, whooping cough, and rubella (aka German measles) to such an extent that polio is practically non-existent in North America today, & the other two have become rather uncommon in most quarters. So imagine my shock, dismay, & frustration when I read on a website committed to fostering knowledge among new mothers about women who are CHOOSING not to have their babies & toddlers immunized because of an exaggerated claim that vaccines cause autism!
I am the mother of four (ranging in age from two adults in their early 20s down to an 11 year old), all of whom got their MANDATORY (for school enrollment) immunizations on schedule throughout their lives. I am also a social worker with particular responsibility for emotionally disturbed children in the foster care system, & part of my job is to ensure that these youths also get their shots on time. Yes, in a few studies investigating the possible causes of autism, someone came up with the rather remote possibility that the immunizations given to infants & toddlers MIGHT in some cases be implicated as a POSSIBLE cause. I've read it too.
But...when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is openly, publicly acknowledging that immunization of young children is a positive thing in the vast majority of cases, WHY would you resist having your child vaccinated--again, these are REQUIRED for school enrollment--& risk serious illness & the possible death of your child?!?
I'm sure the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be spinning in his grave if he knew parents were WILLINGLY taking such risks with their children, particularly since he himself was a polio victim who was determined NOT to let that ailment slow him down a bit...in the pre-Salk vaccine era when parents had NO CHOICE in the matter. I can't understand why you'd willingly take such a risk with your child's future. It strikes me as a heinous form of Russian roulette.
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