100 Years
One Hundred Years
In 1849, Ignaz Semmelwei, the saviour of mothers, discovered that infection could be drastically reduced by requiring healthcare workers in obstetrical clinics to disinfect their hands. Infant child mortality was 45%. Sixty percent of us died before the age of five. Our tombstones circle the globe and can be followed across the development of North America.
One Hundred Years later, my mother gave birth to ten children, suffering four miscarriages, for which she received the best medical care my father could afford. After all of those life-giving and life-threatening experiences, in her 40s, she took a vacation with my father during her fertile period and started using birth control. Today, states are questioning her choices and treatments.
For years, I thought that my parents were just plain crazy, but then, at some point, I realized that my Jesuit-educated fundamentalist Catholic parents with combined degrees in Education, Business, History and Theology, Church leaders at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and Elementary School, Carmel, Indiana, saw America's future and moved to Vancouver, Canada, in 1970. At that time, my mother was a fall-down-at-noon alcoholic. Eventually, I realized that my parents had done all the heavy lifting.
A coconut doesn’t fall far from the tree.
My father passed in 1980, and my mother when she was 86 years old. You get all your mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, the Tesla battery of your life, from your mother. We are all still alive.
On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution granted women the right to vote. Tempus fugit
One Hundred Years later, your choices matter. Next year, they may not.
I live in Canada today, and my five granddaughters have the same rights as my mother. If you live in the United States, your mothers, daughters and granddaughters do not.
TINSTAAFL There is no such thing as a free lunch.
If my neighbour sickens, then I will become ill.
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