So, right after I posted a cranky reply-guy thread (as a reply, of course) on Twitter about how everything is meaningless (I’m still right), this came up, as if Someone was showing me that not everything is meaningless.
So, right, this isn’t meaningless. As a parent, and as someone who’s seen multiple family members in the hospital, I can relate to this mom’s feelings. It’s not pleasant, and it got me right in the feels. Compounding the worry about having a child in the hospital is the parental guilt of not having gotten said kid vaccinated. I’ve got my own share of parental guilt, but mine will be nothing compared to hers if Caia doesn’t make it. Also not meaningless.
Part of the reason I’m reacting like this is these folks are Like Me. Yeah, I’m an east coast liberal, and a man, but still, whiteness trumps all that.
I believe that if I saw a picture of a child not Like Me on a respirator with his or her eyes closed because he or she was doped to the gills on sedatives (imagine having a big ol’ tube shoved down your throat, and a plastic bubble inflated to fill your throat so the only way you can breathe is through the tube, and you can’t swallow), I’d feel as sympathetic. I hope I would. I think I would.
Anyway, it’s awful and shouldn’t happen to any child, no matter what their parents are like.
I hope she’s young and strong and pulls through and has a long, happy life. And vaccinates her kids. And drinks fluoridated water. And never assumes public health policy is some sort of conspiracy that takes away her liberties.
Here, Read This 