Things I don't understand
Friday afternoon. Sorry I've been MIA, but I was a staff member for a four day, company-wide conference (hosted by our site here in lovely San Diego) and basically turned into a mole, never seeing the light of day until today. I slept 13 hours last night and am still yawning and exhausted as I sit here.
With all of that, I'd planned to just go home and go to sleep. Then I saw this. I understand that parents want to be the ones to make decisions about their daughters' lives and that's something I support, but $360 to protect your child from developing a rare but deadly (37% mortality rate in the U.S.) form of cancer seems like a very easy decision to make. We could virtually eliminate a form of cancer in a generation...why the furor? Those parents who say that their children will be abstinent until marriage are overlooking the small but important detail that those children could marry someone already infected with HPV. To those who say that $360 is too much to spend when cervical cancer is not wide-spread here in the U.S., I say that parents spend hundreds of dollars at birthday and holiday time on stupid electronic devices that will contribute nothing to their childrens' long-term health and well-being, so why the objection to something that will absolutely do so? And then there are those who say that giving girls this vaccination will promote promiscuity...I cannot think of anything intelligent to say about that line of logic, so I won't, but I think it's hogwash. Girls (and boys, too, for that matter) have so many factors to think about when making decisions about becoming sexually active and I certainly don't think that a cervical cancer vaccine is going to suddenly and radically turn that tide.
I want to "fix" the woes of the world and I know that's not possible, but this one thing is so possible. I know that I have to focus on the things that I can control and let go of that which I cannot and that's why I'm so glad that I have my CASA and Junior League work to help me feel as though I'm making a difference. And, as to wiping out a deadly form of cancer in a single generation, to quote Mr. Lennon, "You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one."
With all of that, I'd planned to just go home and go to sleep. Then I saw this. I understand that parents want to be the ones to make decisions about their daughters' lives and that's something I support, but $360 to protect your child from developing a rare but deadly (37% mortality rate in the U.S.) form of cancer seems like a very easy decision to make. We could virtually eliminate a form of cancer in a generation...why the furor? Those parents who say that their children will be abstinent until marriage are overlooking the small but important detail that those children could marry someone already infected with HPV. To those who say that $360 is too much to spend when cervical cancer is not wide-spread here in the U.S., I say that parents spend hundreds of dollars at birthday and holiday time on stupid electronic devices that will contribute nothing to their childrens' long-term health and well-being, so why the objection to something that will absolutely do so? And then there are those who say that giving girls this vaccination will promote promiscuity...I cannot think of anything intelligent to say about that line of logic, so I won't, but I think it's hogwash. Girls (and boys, too, for that matter) have so many factors to think about when making decisions about becoming sexually active and I certainly don't think that a cervical cancer vaccine is going to suddenly and radically turn that tide.
I want to "fix" the woes of the world and I know that's not possible, but this one thing is so possible. I know that I have to focus on the things that I can control and let go of that which I cannot and that's why I'm so glad that I have my CASA and Junior League work to help me feel as though I'm making a difference. And, as to wiping out a deadly form of cancer in a single generation, to quote Mr. Lennon, "You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one."
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