This post has no music, no lace, and is rambling. There! You’ve been warned!!!
I am of an age to remember a girl in my town who had
suffered paralysis from polio. The adults admonished us to be nice to her. Other adults clucked their tongues and mourned she would never marry. Thanksgiving was always expressed that she
didn’t die. You don’t forget that.
I am of an age to remember getting a polio vaccine with the
rest of my class in school. It was terrifying! The dose was delivered with a
tool that sounded like a miniature pneumatic nail gun. We were lined up along the side of the room after moving the desks to clear space. I knew one of the nurses from the church choir. She was trained on
the battlefield….literally. She never lost her bark. They marched into the
classroom. There was no privacy, no coddling. One nurse
rolled your sleeve up for you; the next nurse wiped down your arm with a swab;
then the final nurse delivered the poke. The boys bragged they didn’t cry. The
girls whimpered. The teachers shushed us and directed us to sit
at our desks with our hands folded until all was calm.
I am of an age to remember and take action. My first action
each day: prayers of gratitude that I live when and where I do with the gifts I
have been given.
Remember
Yes, I think a major problem now is that not enough people remember what the diseases were like. My polio inoculation was pink liquid on a sugar drop. TB had a multi pronged thing that I still have the scar from.
ReplyDeleteAlso I can remember we all children lined up in a classroom, for vaccine. White uniform for girls, blue for boys, all wearing a big bow, sleeves rolled up. Those are nice memories, anyway, girls bragging that we would have been braver than boys 🤣
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