An Open Letter to “Anti-Vax” Parents.

 

On Wednesday last week, the CDC announced that the number of Measles cases reported in the United States reached the highest level since the year 2000.  Bear in mind that April is not yet over, and the number has already met the full-year 2000 numbers.  Cases have been reported in 21 states.

 

The issue has become so serious that New York leaders have made controversial decisions to ban unvaccinated people from public places and have enacted fines and other penalties for those refusing vaccinations.

 

This has me asking myself several questions.  I pose them here to see if others are asking the same questions.

1. Are antivaxxers are so afraid of an adverse reaction that they would rather their child die from a preventable disease?
2. Do they fear infinitesimal possibility of a vaccine reaction so much that a dead child is preferred? 
3. Even if (And all evidence points to the contrary) a vaccine could cause autism, is autism so bad that you would prefer your child die from a disease we have been able to prevent for decades?

 

If that question (the three are all variants of a single thematic question) seems too strong a point to make, I pose this series brief questions to perhaps get people thinking.  The hope is that by asking this series of questions to anti-vax parents, some might begin to seriously rethink their position.

 

1. If your child has a fever and is vomiting, do you take them to the doctor?  Do you trust that your doctor will treat your child with the flu in a manner that is in the child’s best interest?
2. If your child were to break a bone, would you take them to the doctor?  Do you trust that the doctor would treat your child properly?
3. If, God forbid, your child was diagnosed with cancer or some other very serious condition, would you trust that your doctor would work to ensure your child were receiving the best care they could offer?

 

If the answer to these questions is yes, allow me to ask the following?

 

1. If you trust your doctor to provide proper care for your fevered child or your child with a broken bone, why would you think your doctor is being less thorough saying vaccines are needed? At what point is the line of trust crossed?
2. If you don’t trust the doctor on vaccinations, why would you trust them to render any care for your child with the flu, cancer, or asthma?

 

It would be obvious the doctor couldn’t be trusted to properly care for your child if they would suggest a treatment that could knowingly negatively affect your child’s health.  How could you trust them for even the most basic care?

 

So, if you trust your doctor when your child has the flu; and you would trust your doctor with a broken bone or cancer, why would you not trust them when they say a child requires vaccination?    This is not a “straw man” argument.  This is not some false equivalency.  These are questions about whether you trust your doctor. … Do you?

 

Please think.  Use real logic and not just some “feeling” based on fear instilled by an uneducated celebrity or conspiracy monger.  For the sake of your children and those with compromised immune systems, please, vaccinate your children.  Their lives may depend on it.

1917 - Very interesting statistics

1917 - Very interesting statistics

My mother sent me an email recently that got me thinking. It was titled "The year is 1917 One hundred years ago." Below is the text it contained. (formatted to make it easier to follow.)

I unfortunately have no idea who the original author is. If I did, I would cite them here. (and thank them for the inspiration.)

Anyway, I include my thoughts below the quoted text.

BEGIN QUOTE:

1917 - Very interesting statistics

The year is 1917 "One hundred years ago." (What a difference a century makes!)

Here are some statistics for the Year 1917:

• The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.
• Fuel for cars was sold in drug stores only.
• Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
• Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
• The average US wage in 1910 was 22 cents per hour.
• The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
• A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year.
• A dentist $2,500 per year.
• A veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year.
• And, a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
• More than 95 percent of all births took place at home
• Ninety percent of all Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."
• Sugar cost four cents a pound.
• Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
• Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month,
• And, used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
• The Five leading causes of death were:
  • 1 Pneumonia and influenza
  • 2 Tuberculosis
  • 3 Diarrhea
  • 4 Heart disease
  • 5 Stroke
• The American flag had 45 stars ...
• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30.
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.
• There was neither a Mother's Day nor a Father's Day.
• Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
• And, only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at local corner drugstores.
• Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach, bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health!" (Shocking?)
• Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help...
• There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.!

 

I am now going to forward this to someone else without typing it

myself. From there, it will be sent to others all over the WORLD all in a matter of seconds!

 

It is impossible to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

 

END QUOTE: 

As it turns out, both of my matwenal grandparents were born that year meaning their mothers (my great-grandmothers) were pregnant that year. I knew those great-grandmothers and I used to sit at my their knees and listened. (Both of them 90s.)

I have often recalled the story of one of them shaking her head and giggling when my mom expressed concern over Steve, (My Brother) driving and dating. The implication was worry over kids “parking” "When we were his age, the horse knew the way home." she said with a glint and a wink. Suggesting that in her day they could “park” while the buggy made it’s own way home. {{{Scandalous}}}

 

Within their own lifetimes, (My Great Grandmothers' saw)

• Horse and Buggy gave way to the car.

• First flights to Man on the moon and regular space shuttle flights.
• WWI
• WWII
• Korea
• The Dust Bowl
• The Great Depression
• Red Scare - A cold was - and the fall of the wall
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• Vietnam - And a whole slew of international conflicts
• Israel became a country and fought its own wars
• Radio
• Telephone
• Television
• Atomic bombs
• The microchip
• The ERA
• Legalized abortion
• Calculators
• Cellphones
• Personal computers

My generation has seen some of those things move or improve but there is really no generation in history that has seen this level of technological change within a single lifetime. And that was in less than 100 Years

 

Their generation saw:

• Einstein
• Kennedy
• Nixon
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Ronald Ragan
• Nelson Mandela
• Churchill
• Roosevelt
• Idi Amin
• Jim Jones
• Billy Graham
• Adolf Hitler
• Stalin
• …and countless others.

 

They came in at the end of the civil war and if not for geography would likely have encountered former slaves. (They were in Indiana)

To have seen what their eyes saw and lived through such dynamic change is mindboggling. 

Just the lists above make my head spin.  They lived through it and witnessed it.  Likely with no idea just how much they are seeing… It really is amazing. 

ADD Insomnia

My mind jumps from place to place like a bored teen scanning channels; looking for something to watch. 

I pause occasionally only to be drawn away by some errant intrusive thought barging in and pulling me attention away. 

A million ideas but none complete. Unable to slow the processing enough to fully formulate any single coherent... where was I? ... shit!... I lost it. 

Anyway, to an outsider looking in it must look like a bee or perhaps some frenetic hummingbird flitting from flower to flower in search of nectar. From the inside it feels like I'm in a pinball machine; launched at breakneck speed in one direction only to have my course changed abruptly before ever reaching my destination; then changing again just as quickly. 

No rhyme, no reason, no discernible pattern. Just an uncontrollable, unpredictable... shit! ... I lost it again.  

Ever wonder what ADD is like?

Here you go. 

Like a Tree in the Wake of a Lightning Strike

 

“When a show ends, for a few days, my body sizzles with leftover energy, like a tree in the wake of a lightning strike.”

― S.M. Stevens

 

 

Last week I wrote about how much working on Community Theatre productions affected me in my Teens and early 20s.

 

If walking onto the stage after month of preparation can be compared "Standing Inside Lightning" it is reasonable to explore the aftermath. What is it like when a show ends? Stevens states it well as he describes the end of a run as being "Like a Tree in the Wake of a Lightning Strike". He says in his quote above that his "body sizzles with leftover energy". I have to say he is not wrong.

 

When the curtain has fallen and the sets have been struck, the buzz and hum of the performance are gone. I am left feeling charred and cold. My body -flushed with the warmth of the stage lights- quickly chills; drained by the cold harsh reality of the outside world. If I am quite honest, it can be a little depressing.

 

I said in my last post that Theatre was a form of therapy for me. Preparing for and performing a show were a way to cope with my own insecurities by working with a group of accepting, affirming people. I was self-medicating my anxieties. I dosed myself for months with an ever increasing level of adrenaline as we rehearsed. This stepping up of the dose finally culminated with a massive injection of eshillerating adrenaline as we stepped onto stage. What a rush! But as with any drug, the rush didn't last long.

 

If there is a downside to self-medicating anxiety in this way, it has to be the end of a production. The crash back to "normal" after months of adrenaline left me down. I generally found myself looking forward to the next show. If there was not a show on the immediate horizon I don't believe I was ever completely content.

More traumatic perhaps, than adrenaline withdrawal is the sudden loneliness that comes with the end of a run. When rehearsing for a play you easily spend 25 or more hours a week, for a couple months, in intimate proximity with people you enjoy. The sudden end of that contact can lead to loneliness. I have a mind that runs at a million miles-an-hour and I am a highly social being. I often talk to focus my thoughts. Being alone is not a good thing. I tend to get lost in my own mind and it becomes more difficult to focus. That can lead me worry a lot as my mind runs.

 

 

I can hear your questions...

 

 

"If it was so beneficial to you David, why are you not still actively involved in your local community theatre(s)? Surely in Atlanta there are enough playhouses for you to remain busy."

 

 

I generally write in stream of conscience. Until I started this writing project last week I hadn't asked those questions of myself. I am working through them. I guess you will have to read my next entry in this series. That way we can both find out together.

How About You???

 

• Do you have something in your life that you self-medicate with?


• Do you have a community you are plugged into that accepts you and can act as your counsel?


• Was there something in your youth into which you poured every possible waking moment but you now simply look back on fondly wondering, "What Happened?"

 

Share below your experiences in the comments.

 

 

Like Being Inside Lightning

“When you step from the wings onto the stage you go from total blackness to a blinding hot glare. After a moment you adjust, but there is that moment. like being inside lightning.”

― Meg Howrey, The Cranes Dance

After some conversations with a friend about Community Theatre I have been feeling nostalgic.  I got to thinking about my experience with working and performing.

In the winter spanning 1984 to '85 I joined the cast of a local Community College production of "Fiddler on the Roof".  It was a "small role" as Yankel. One of the young boys that the old matchmaker, Yente tries to marry off to Golde and Tevye's young daughters at the end of the play. My best friend and I were brought into the production because they needed younger kids (We were 12 ) and our brothers were in the cast. I had three words. "But I'm Yankel" ... Yes, I remember it over 30 years later.

I had been on stage before. I sang in children's choir. I performed in grade-school plays and church shows. This was deferent. Perhaps it is because my previouse experience was less "professional" or were rehearsed with less rigor but I had never before had so much fun working so hard. For the next 11 years, I worked on at least one production a year.

This production was ,for me, a life-changing experience. I know that may sound like hyperbole but I assure you it is a sincere statement. Working on that show opened my eyes to a new world. I was in a diverse group working voluntarily toward a common goal; a group that accepted one another in spite age, handicap, or personal character flaw. I have rarely experienced such community. I made friends there that I still have today.

Theatre for me became therapy. I entered into a world where I could step out of my own self-imposed, self-conscious, anxiety and, for a few hours a day, live in the shoes of another. I admit readily that I used it as a way to escape my own life. For a few hours at a time I was in a group who embraced my quirks. We all had quirks and we embraced them in each other. Sadly, even when doing church productions I never felt quite as accepted as I did when working in community theatre. I loved my church; and I still do. I have some very close relationships which developed there. I met even my own wonderful wife at church. So I am not sure why there was such a diference for me.

I believe it has more to do with me than anything else... Perhaps I will explore this further at some other time... Perhaps

When rehearsing for a show we worked very hard for months to produce a handful of performances. At times we would only deliver two or three performances after rehearsing for upwards of 4000 (THOUSAND) person-hours. If you have never done this, it may seem like a lot of work for only a short run. For most of us though, it is worth it. 

The quote I used to open this post beautifully expresses one reason why we believe it to be worth it.

“When you step from the wings onto the stage you go from total blackness to a blinding hot glare. After a moment you adjust, but there is that moment. like being inside lightning.”

― Meg Howrey, The Cranes Dance

Stepping from the darkness of the wings into the blinding heat of the stage is powerful.  The energy of a lively, expectant audience coupled with nervous anticipation is electric. All those weeks of preparation were just the set up for this adrenaline injection. That adrenaline is addictive.

I have heard of studies where recovered addicts are brought into a room and asked to assemble the paraphernalia related to their addiction. They are asked to use the assembled items and mimic the preparation of their drugs. While performing these preparatory tasks their brains are monitored. To the amazement of the researchers, the brain releases chemicals associated with being high without the drug being administered. The preparation builds an anticipation of receiving the drug that actually prepares the brain to become high. I think rehearsing for a production may have similar effects.

Rehearsing for a play begins a cascading anticipation within us that builds and builds until we finally feel that rush of adrenaline. That fight-or-flight rush that comes from "being inside lightning".

Are Bionic Eyes on the Horizon?

Technology icon Google teams with healthcare giant Novartis to bring “Smart Contact Lenses” to market.

In recent news, Google and healthcare giant Novartis have announced that they have teamed up to officially begin work toward bringing Google’s smart contact lenses from theory to reality. For those of us in the visually impaired community, this makes for some exciting speculation and dream-building.

What can they do?

Press releases surrounding the deal describe the lenses as having potential for some interesting features. Chief among these proposed features is active blood glucose monitoring for diabetic patients. Tiny embedded sensors will monitor blood sugar of tears and transmit results wirelessly to a connected device. (Presumably a smart phone.) Active, direct glucose monitoring means better opportunity to minimize other health issues related to diabetes.

AND:

Another proposed function is active focal adjustment of the lens. News authors describe this as beneficial to aging patients who suffer age-related vision changes.

I anticipate greater breath in application. Are these new lenses the miracle some of us have been waiting for?

Why limit uses to the aging? There is a large global community of people with a variety of visual defects. These people could benefit greatly from adjustable focus. (As much if not more, than presbyopic baby-boomers.)

I present my own situation as an example.

I am leagally blind.

I have a genetic condition (Ocular Albinism) which leaves me seeing roughly ten percent (10%) of what “normally sighted” people see. With my glasses on I can only see the top “E” on the Snellen chart.

SO?

As a result of this condition, I remove my glasses to read. I must wear glasses (thick glasses) to see, with any level of clarity, beyond 8 inches from my eyes. (I have been known to come away from a newspaper with ink on my nose from reading so close.)

What does that mean?

At 43 years of age, I have never seen a bird in a tree. I have never read a license plate from the front seat of a car. I have never read a speed-limit sign without bulky magnification. I have never actually seen my son make a goal on the soccer field. While I love going to the theatre, I cannot see faces on stage. I cannot drive a car.

Awww... Sorry.

I don’t say these things seeking sympathy. I merely want to demonstrate how life-changing the lenses proposed by Google and Novartis could be. While the capabilities currently being discussed for this product don’t cover extreme distance magnification, I can hope they have it on the drawing board for the future. Will there be a set of lenses for me one day that allow me to read a theater pamphlet and see the stage like “normal” people? Will I be able to see the traffic signal when ceossing the street without using a telescope? Will I be able to read the menu from the wall at McDonalds?

What do you think?

Are you excited? Are you scared? … Are you doubtful perhaps?

What applications can you see for these devices? How might our world “look” as we move into this next phase of the technological revolution?

Comment below and tell me your thoughts.

Life is short... Eat Dessert FIRST!!