Boiling Frogs

Day before yesterday I got my adult DPT (pertussis vaccine is now recommended for all child caretakers). Today I've got a red bump at the site and it hurts. Seems I'm having a little local reaction... Now they tell me if I'd gone home and done a few wall pushups, there's less chance of any reaction. This so reminds me of the M*A*S*H* episode where they're trying to diffuse a bomb and they're getting instructions over the radio or something... "...now cut the red wire..." read the instructions, "...but first...." This is called poor writing technique.

Anyway, I'm sitting here with an ice bag on my arm, tilted a good bit to defy gravity as I type, and the visions of the boiling frog enter my head. Get him to jump in while the water's cool, and he doesn't figure it out before he's in hot water to the tenth power. I picture him struggling weakly as someone murmurs, "btw, the burner's on..."

On the other hand, my beautiful granddaughter Jhaleah will be here in 30 minutes and I picture her rockin' on sans the multitude of diseases that plagued my own and my parents' generations. A little reaction is a small price to pay. Kids don't need to worry about the complications of all those illnesses we once considered part of growing up. I hear people argue against vaccinations, saying, "hey, I had measles (chicken pox, mumps, etc., etc.) and I was just fine..." Except not every kid turns out fine... I got such a kick everytime they dripped a dot of pink anti-polio on my kids' tongues; I survived polio and there's no doubt that struggling against the effects has strengthened my will, but oh, I'm glad, glad, glad my kids don't have to go through it. There's enough garbage in the world to strengthen their wills without that.