| Childhood rates of autism have skyrocketed, are up | | | | And then there's mental chain three. It will never |
| over six-fold in less than 2 decades. There's no | | | | happen to me. Denial that the danger is real. Autism - |
| possibility that the increase is from an increase in | | | | that happens to other people's children. Autism - a |
| reporting. It's just as, 2 decades ago, the rate of AIDS | | | | danger so far away that it isn't considered. |
| was going up and up. It had nothing to do with an | | | | And yet the danger of abduction is much smaller -but |
| increase in reporting. Something was going on. | | | | many parents treat it as a huge threat, don't let children |
| At the same time as the rate of autism has | | | | outside alone, don't let children go to school alone. |
| skyrocketed - 1 in 94 boys is diagnosed with autism in | | | | So what makes people just go along with the |
| some areas, according to figures given on Larry King | | | | vaccines? |
| Live on Sept 30, '07 - the rate of childhood vaccines | | | | There are still other chains - like the comfort of staying |
| has also skyrocketed. It was about 10 shots twenty | | | | on the beaten path. There's no visible chain keeping |
| years ago. Now, according to the same source, it's | | | | one on it. But the path is so easy. |
| thirty-seven. A chemical in the vaccines is seen as the | | | | Other chains in the mind - in all levels of government. |
| most likely triggering factor. | | | | One 9/11 - and huge measures are taken. That cost |
| That the vaccines are responsible for at least some of | | | | over 3000 lives. |
| the increase is almost totally certain: many of the | | | | Autism -much bigger. One is talking of hundreds of |
| children go from being normal to severely autistic -no | | | | thousands, millions worldwide. |
| eye contact, no more speaking, repetitive movements, | | | | What makes each and every official not react? I've |
| withdrawing from social contact, screaming all night, | | | | been hearing of the increase in autism rates for over a |
| and so on - within a week of receiving a vaccine. | | | | decade. Where are the government officials, and why |
| I come to chains in the mind. Most parents care | | | | has there not been a massive response to something |
| enormously about their children. One can see it | | | | that endangers far more children than, say, the threat |
| especially in the care given to many autistic children by | | | | of HIV through contact with another child - where they |
| loving parents. Yet most allow masses of childhood | | | | was a huge panic reaction a couple of decades ago. |
| vaccinations despite the potential dangers. No measles. | | | | Why are people seemingly numb, frozen, chained? |
| Just autism. No mumps. Just autism. | | | | The more one is free of the frozen brain syndrome, |
| An American pediatrician whose son, now 11, is autistic | | | | the more one responds to what is going on. |
| was told by his wife: you did this to him, you fix him | | | | But like rabbits that freeze when caught in headlights, |
| (Larry King Live, Sept 30, '07). She clearly saw: he was | | | | most people freeze, given something out of the |
| guilty, he was responsible. They had had a healthy son. | | | | ordinary. It asks too much of them to respond. And |
| As her husband was a doctor, she held him | | | | anyhow, most likely it won't be their child. It will be |
| accountable. He should have known better than to | | | | someone else's. And what if the reports are wrong? |
| allow the many vaccinations. He has devoted his life | | | | And so most people live -and children who might |
| since then to finding out how best to treat autism and | | | | otherwise be healthy are condemned to autism. One |
| even, at times, enable recovery. | | | | could say that many adults show autistic tendencies |
| But why should he be held accountable and not other | | | | -lack of contact with material, lack of responsiveness. |
| parents? Loads of parents have access to the same | | | | Time to unchain. A long process. But each person who |
| information. | | | | frees themselves from some mental chains helps. |
| But what about the drug companies? They're the ones | | | | Elsa |
| pushing the vaccines. | | | | An almost final thought: I think of Mothers Against |
| I'm not looking at the drug companies because, at | | | | Drunk Driving. They didn't create the problem - the lack |
| present, the power to protect children lies in the hands | | | | of penalties for drunk driving, the deaths caused by |
| of the parents. The drug companies manufacturing the | | | | drunk drivers. Many had lost a child to a drunk driver. |
| vaccines claim there's no evidence of danger from the | | | | By organizing and acting, they have helped lessen the |
| vaccines. | | | | problem of drunk driving. |
| That's to be expected. They're making money from | | | | The spark for my thoughts. A few days ago, I saw an |
| the vaccines. | | | | interview with a mother of an autistic child on Larry |
| Likewise the cigarette companies refuted all evidence | | | | King Live. She'd done so much since her son's |
| of the link between smoking and lung cancer - making | | | | diagnosis, found every possible help for recovery. She |
| money was more important than lives. | | | | had, before her son's illness, loved him just as much - |
| That's why, when I come to chains in the mind, I'm not | | | | but she'd gone along with the vaccination program. 37 |
| talking of those at the drug companies. | | | | shots. |
| I'm talking about all the other people who haven't acted. | | | | An ounce of prevention, goes the old proverb, is worth |
| There are millions - millions of parents - who have | | | | a pound of cure. I'm all in favor of cure. But why, I |
| heard the reports on the possible dangers of vaccines | | | | asked myself, isn't there more done for prevention? |
| from one source or another. | | | | Surely preventing autism is more important than |
| Chains in the mind. Here's what comes to mind. | | | | preventing measles. |
| Chain One. Fear. Fear of taking responsibility, of going | | | | Note: I don't hold parents responsible - just as parents |
| against what a doctor says. What if something goes | | | | aren't responsible for the death of children at the |
| wrong? | | | | hands of drunk drivers. But to stay silent is to |
| Yet right now there's a much bigger risk of something | | | | acquiesce to the situation. Mothers Against Drunk |
| going wrong if the child is given vaccines. Measles are | | | | Drivers started as a group of mothers who refused to |
| unpleasant - but the long term consequences are not | | | | stay silent. They became a powerful lobby for strong |
| autism. | | | | drunk driving penalties - which now save many |
| Even on the Larry King Live show I've mentioned, the | | | | children's lives, though more has to be done. My hope |
| 2 mothers interviewed were very low key about the | | | | is that, likewise, parents will come together powerfully |
| vaccines. It almost had to be dragged out of them, that | | | | to protect their babies and toddlers as much as is |
| they wouldn't allow another child to be vaccinated. But | | | | possible against the threat of autism. |
| an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Why | | | | I pause. And the question keeps going through my |
| not do their best to help prevent what happened to | | | | mind: how much (or how little) responsibility do parents |
| their children from happening to others? (Of course all | | | | have? To care is more than to feel caring. We need |
| autism won't be prevented - just as one change won't | | | | knowledge, we need to have the courage to act on |
| prevent all cancer. But each prevention is wonderful.) | | | | information, we need to have enough commitment to |
| Back to chains in the mind. Mental chain two. Fear of | | | | our children to do things that aren't easy - to address |
| other consequences. What does one do about school | | | | bullying, whatever. We need healthy priorities. |
| requirements, etc. if one doesn't allow the shots? | | | | |