Progress

It never ceases to surprise me how often I have to tell total strangers about Lily's allergies. I wrote all about it here if you are interested, otherwise just know she is allergic to wheat, corn, egg, oat, apple and tomato. People often offer her a cracker, cookie, or candy. Sometimes we are invited to play at McDonald's play land (lots of crumbs) or whatever. It seems that these conversations go pretty much the same way. First people ask me what in the world she eats, and second people tell me that back when they were kids, no one had food allergies and now it seems every has them. They usually go on to say that ADD, asthma, autism, and a whole host of other childhood diseases are more prevalent today than they were when they were growing up. They tell me that they believe that this is due to either baby formula, immunizations, pesticides, or preservatives.

I usually smile and nod, I have tried to argue but their eyes glaze over when I start to quote statistics, so I am making an attempt here to say that I don't think that the very things that separate the industrialized countries, that progress and science are causing kids who would otherwise be healthy to become sick. I don't think that progress makes kids sick. I think that due to progress sick kids are living full lives, with a few health complications and before when you were growing up and there weren't any kids with asthma or food allergies it was because they died before they ever made it to their first birthday.

I think that we are forgetting about the fact that in non-industrialized countries, the majority of kids who are born do not live to see their first birthday. Kids who do live to see their first birthday generally don't live to see their fortieth. Countries that don't have immunizations or a stable food supply have citizens who don't have asthma or food allergies, but that doesn't mean that immunizations, pesticides and preservatives cause those diseases. It is within the realm of possibility that children born with health problems are the children who die before their first birthday, both in our country before progress and in other countries which have not yet sustained progress, sick kids die. So we live in a country where the sick kids live.

I believe that pointing fingers at the progress which allows almost every child that is born in America to live to see their 70th birthday, and calling that progress detrimental to the health and well being of our children is frustrating. I do believe that our immunizations, pesticides, and preservatives need to be improved, we are not at a place of Utopia. Saying that they are evil in my opinion causes most of the scientists to shake their heads and walk away in disgust, thinking that the finger pointers need an education. We need to ask for and improvements in a way that is not a condemnation of all the progress we have made. I am so very grateful that Lily has a chance at a full and healthy life. I am grateful that even though America suffered a severe heat wave this summer, our grocery store shelves are filled with food. I am grateful for progress and I don't look back at the past thinking those were the days, I am grateful to be in the present and grateful my children will be there for the future.