And just like that, summer is over and the littles go back to their school-time routines.
With everything going on in the world, people being divided about a ton of things, let's just agree that protecting our littles is every adults' responsibility.
Depending on where in the world you live, there are likely going to be different protocols put in place.
Nobody wants kids getting sick. Nobody takes putting protocols in place lightly.
This isn't fun for anyone, and it's not a game. It's not a political football to be kicked back and forth. It's not communism for fascism or any other ism people need to look up before they want to throw a label on something they don't like.
This is about protecting kids from a virus that can get them extremely sick. Too many are landing in the hospital when they wouldn't have to be. Why? Because the grown-ups can't seem to get their shit together.
This became a political issue when it was, and still is a medical one. A public health one. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything but illness, and trying to prevent it. Simple.
No different than heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder, or lime disease. Something that makes people incredibly sick comes down the pike, the scientific community takes it apart, researches it, and makes strides to cure it, treat it, or come up with immunization against it.
When you get sick you go to the doctor. If needed, you are admitted to a hospital. There, they do everything they can to make you better so you can go home and go on with your life. That's all this is.
When possible, science tries to come up with ways to prevent us from getting sick to begin with.
Back in the day, they didn't know that drinking and smoking while pregnant could have horrible effects on the baby. Hell, the doctor would sit at the foot of the hospital bed of a new mother, with baby lying on the bed, both Mom and doc having a cigarette. Now we know that to help prevent Fetal alcohol syndrome, and low baby weight, you remove booze and smokes from your life while pregnant. No nefarious conspiracies behind the new rules, just science, and common sense.
Back in the day, children got extremely ill and often died of diseases that are almost entirely extinct now because of vaccines. Nothing political about it. Science and common sense.
Back in the day, they didn't know smoking caused cancer. Now they do, so warnings labels became mandatory, advertising became pretty much non-existent, and smoking indoors in places other than your home became illegal. Not political. Science and common sense.
Fewer people dying of cancer. Not political. Science.
Fewer kids with Fetal alcohol syndrome. Science.
Fewer people smoking. Science.
Fewer people dying in car accidents because wearing a seatbelt became a law. Science.
The fact remains that good, well-tested, scientific research, and the products, medicines, treatments, and vaccines they provide, are the very reasons we live longer, healthier lives.
If you use a phone or a computer, you trust science.
If you drive a car, you trust science.
If you eat prepackaged food, you trust science.
If you have ever taken Tylenol or any other over-the-counter medication, you trust science.
If you take vitamins or supplements of any kind, you trust science.
If you have ever given birth in a hospital, you trust science.
If you use disinfectants to clean your house or anything at all, you trust science.
Face it. Regardless of all the hooting and hollering, all the screaming and yelling, all the huffing and puffing, you trust science.
Kids depend on adults to keep them safe, keep them from getting sick if we can, keep them from getting preventable viruses when possible. It's our job. All of us.
So, if your child's school is asking that everyone wear a mask, they aren't doing it as a political statement. They aren't trying to control anyone, they are just trying to add a layer of protection to little ones too young to be vaccinated. It's just science and common sense. That's it. Nothing more.
This is a question for my American friends.
How is it that traumatizing your kids with active shooter drills because of some inherent gun fetish is perfectly acceptable, but wearing a piece of cloth on their face to help prevent them from getting sick somehow crosses a line?
Kids won't remain kids. This snapshot of time will be in the books for all to examine. At some point, they will look back at the decisions made on their behalf. I wonder how they will feel.
*****************************************************
May this school year be filled with friends, fun, laughter and learning.
May critical thinking be encouraged, nurtured, creating a thirst, a yearning.
May we all support our teachers, their job, never easy, has taken on added stress.
May we encourage our kids to be helpers, to be kind, to do their best.
May we, as adults, put pettiness aside, let reality set it, and do what's needed to keep our kids safe.
May we just admit we trust science, use our common sense, not let misinformation get in the way.
****************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment