[oldE]

Not only the trust issue, but as mentioned above, there were almost daily reminders in communities about what polio could do to you if it didn't kill you. Men and women walked about with twisted legs. They were survivors. You didn't want to be like them.(Sorry Ralph, sorry Carl.)

Drcoastline was right too regarding the speed of information, but not just information, but also BS. I think one of our biggest problems these days compared to when I grew up is knowing who to believe. In our community, you knew who to believe. They might talk a big story, but you knew to discount the details by 80 -90 %. You have been warned by your parents or friends. These days every moderately competent individual with an agenda and a computer or a smart phone can spew their garbage over the internet and there are always those who embrace their brand of crap because it sounds like what they want to believe.

We also tend to forget the rates of infant mortality families lived with less than one hundred years ago. Do yourself a favour and go through an older section of a cemetery and look at the stones with several dates inscribed. You will in many cases read the names of three or four children who died in their first few years of diphtheria, whooping cough and other now almost forgotten killers. We have been spared those frequent reminders of the apparent frailty of this mortal coil, so it becomes easier to close one's eyes and ears to the danger. In just over a year in Canada, we have lost over 26,000 souls to Covid and doctors are reporting that some, on their deathbeds are denying they have the disease because they believed it didn't exist.

In a way I get it. It feels less scary to some to ignore something and hope it goes away. We all have deniers regarding those symptoms of stroke or who ignore the early signs of cancer, just hoping "It's nothing serious." Then we cluck our tongues and shake our heads and say, "If only they had paid attention to the first warnings." We've witnessed it here on this board. It is part of human nature to want to believe things will be alright.
There are some things you can't wish away. Our parents knew that and had to believe it because they had watched children die. They saw their neighbours twisted bodies and were thankful for the opportunity to stop the disease.

Best
Les