What I am thinking about today, for some reason, is my
Grandma Bessie who on a small, relatively harmless scale, used fear to control
her ever growing and rowdy bunch of grandkids. (Don’t all parents/grandparents
do this sometimes?) There is control and there is control. Anyway -- Bessie was
my father’s mother. The thing is, and what I am thinking about
today, is that she lived during the influenza pandemic of 1917-1918. I have
thought about this several times during the past -- going on now -- three
years. She survived. Both of her
children did not. I can’t imagine the horror of losing your children and (as
the family story goes) of being too sick herself to be able to attend their funerals.
It is beyond tragic for sure. Nevertheless, she and my
Grandpa Earl went on then to have my two uncles and my dad (the middle son) …
and so the family began again ... and here I am telling you about it.
Now as I remember -- this grandma, unlike my grandpa, did
not smile a lot. Sadness hangs on in
many ways. Sad to think that I don’t have one single memory of her really smiling
(you know -- the kind of smile that just sort of bursts out) … although … I sure hope that
she did. Everyone deserves some joy in their lives. Anyway – the Spanish Flu
was apparently not enough horror for one life time -- another epidemic was yet
to come. Polio. 1955. Some of you will remember the Jonas Salk oral vaccine -- a
cherry-flavored drop on a sugar cube, and if you are old enough, you may also remember seeing (in magazines and newsreels) rooms full of children in iron lungs. You may also remember hearing about previous experimental
vaccines, like the Cutter vaccine, an experimental injection, that tragically actually
caused polio in thousands and thousands … and thousands … of cases ... innocent people who became pawns in some sick, twisted game of chess. Sound familiar in any way? That, too,
was a scary time.
But to get back to Grandma Bessie… never one to
disappoint in the wives’ tale department, she had her own brand of advice especially
when polio struck in that outbreak of 1955. (I was a mere 6 years old, but I
remember it well. I tend to remember scary stuff.) These bits of “wisdom” were sort
of like some of today’s mandates really -- not even close to “following the
science”. I remember her cautioning me not to drink from a creek - as I often
did – because the creek water would give me polio. She also told me never to eat a peach if I
hadn’t removed all the fuzz – because the fuzz would give me polio. Needless to
say, washing a peach in a creek and then eating it was totally unthinkable.
Double polio? I think she also used fear
to induce me to stop turning over rocks on her front bank -- a favorite way of
mine to find snakes. Yuk! Hard to
believe now that I ever did that… and that I looked forward to it… that I did it repeatedly on purpose after finding that first one in a heart-stopping experience. Anyway -- I rarely drink from creeks these
days – or flip over rocks in search of garter snakes, but… I think of her
warning to this day – every - single - time I wash or peel a peach – especially if
I eat them with fuzz. Yes, some things
hang on in various ways.
Turning the page ... control by fear remains effective today. It is important to realize though that this control can exist on a deeper, scarier level -- and perhaps not with good intentions. Again -- there is control and there is control. I am not even sure the term mandate, for example, was used in earlier times the way it is now. Maybe there was another word. It certainly was never a part of my routine vocabulary … until recently. Too bad it is so popular now. Sad that it has become a household word. I am not sure what word was used for this type of control in other times and I don’t think the term will serve us well when history records the events of these times in a looking back on it -- in what I think of as a retrospective perspective. This is especially important when you think of how our children are being treated – some forced to take an experimental vaccine (big pharma, big bucks)– some isolated and denied education or participation in sports because they are not vaccinated. Then there are those who are now in their third year of forced masking. There is an entire generation out there who have been denied the communicative power of facial expression for now into the third year! (Most of what one communicates is done without words, by the way. I have studied nonverbal communication for years.) What damage have these mandates done? What damage do they continue to do? Enough now.
Then – to add to the horror - there is this idea…. Think of how you look back at some of the “mandates” of the World War II era, for example. This past week (January 27th) was Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. How did all of that start? It was a systematic method of control by those in power. How did it progress? Jews were segregated and forced to wear a yellow Star of David as a way of identifying them before isolating them in ghettos. They were denied jobs because of their race and their beliefs...and then it got worse. We look now with horror at the end result of all of this. Over 6 million souls ... horrors almost beyond belief. See what I mean?
It is a good thing that some things hang on a bit… that we don’t forget. Maybe there is hope that we can learn from our mistakes that way. Hope so…. No one can completely erase history -- try as they might, and some are trying. Someone will remember – at least as long as we are free to talk and write, read, and … learn. Have courage. Speak your truth. It is your right to do so even though others may try to silence you. We will not all agree, but that is okay. We should be able to work it out or at least listen to each other and try.
Sometimes I feel like Little Orphan Annie in that old James Whitcomb Riley poem about the goblins that will get you if you don’t watch out. Today…. those would be the power-hungry type of goblins, aka control freaks, thirsty for their command over others. They are experts in fear mongering. Aren’t we just plain sick of it – and getting sicker of it every single minute? And yet -- are there signs of revolt throughout the entire world? Hope? Is it too late to salvage what was our world?
It's a lot -- I sometimes wonder what my grandchildren will remember
about me… their own retrospective perspective. I want them to remember that I really smiled and laughed… that I found joy in life and in them. I hope their memories
will not include a lot of old wives’ tales of a scary nature. They are all old enough to remember these
times. I hope their memories have to do with a sense of living one’s life in
the positive, of the importance of freedom of choice (Freedom Over
Everything), and about a courage to stand, sometimes feeling very alone,
against those thirsty goblins. I hope they remember that their Nana took a stand and spoke out .... I hope they remember that I didn't like to be bullied... by anyone... and that I would push back.
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