Technology is the key to our advancement as a species.
We invent things using technology.
We improve them using technology.
We simplify processes using technology.
We overcome society’s problems using technology.
There’s a lot of work, a lot of brains and a lot of money that goes into developing these technologies so that they can benefit humankind.
And yet, sometimes all of that seems so very unappreciated.
And it does seem that parents are particularly unappreciative of the things that could literally save their child’s life.
Like the mother driving her squabbling kids home from school yesterday: both of them 8 or 9 years old and climbing around the footwell and passenger seat of her car – not a seatbelt in sight.
To the parents in Gaines County in Texas,
It seems that in this case, religious beliefs may have been a strong reason behind many of the (now 24) cases: all of whom *shock* are unvaccinated. Gaines Country has a high population of Mennonites, and all of the cases in Gaines can be linked to Mennonite schools. Traditionally, Mennonites reject “modern” technology (which would likely include vaccinations), which is all well and good until it backfires and a wholly preventable measles outbreak maims or kills their children.
According to this from MennoniteUSA.org:
Mennonites believe in simple living but express that simplicity in a spirit of stewardship and awareness of the needs of others rather than completely separating from society
But if I was the parent of a baby in Texas right now (the first MMR vaccination is at 12-15 months), I would be very worried. I certainly wouldn’t be thinking very kindly about the Mennonites and their alleged “spirit of stewardship and awareness of the needs of others” BS.
Look, religious or not, as parents we deserve to give our kids the best chance in life. And that should start with the right to health and life. Willfully ignoring or rejecting the proven technologies that we have developed to keep our children safe and well is tantamount to child abuse. As one commenter points out:
It’s difficult to have sympathy for an adult who refuses a vaccine and then gets the disease.
The children didn’t have a choice.
Yep. The children deserve better.
And everything they need is right there. It’s readily available.
They’re just not being used.
And that does raise the question: Why should we bother?