Ignorance of No Experience

The Death of 

Young Dorothy Levi

Jewish Cemetery, aka Rosena Chapel or B'Nai Israel; Monroe, Louisiana

This headstone is one I can only imagine was once a pristine white monument to the memory of a much loved little girl, Dorothy Levi, the daughter of Monroe stationary shop owner, Ferd Levi.  Her obituary ran in the Monroe New-Star the day after she died (April 12, 1911).  Cause of death was blamed on pneumonia as a result of measles.  Measles.  A disease that has just about been eradicated until, well, celebrities started complaining and blaming about how vaccinations "caused" autism and other disturbances.  I don't know about you, but I do not get valuable guidance on health matters from Playboy centerfolds or B-list actors and actresses.  Trusting my doctor, who has children of his own, I believe in the power of inoculation.  Just last year, an outbreak of measles wrecked havoc at Disneyland, of all places.  My youngest did her sophomore English research paper on the pros of vaccinating all children as a requirement.  She used this as an example of just how insidious measles can be.  Apparently patient zero in this disaster was an out-of-country non-inoculated  person who came in contact with children whose parents had either chosen not to vaccinate and those too young to have received the full dosage of the MMR series. Fortunately, no one lost their lives.  But this brings the subject up of those who have no understanding of science and viruses.  Someone can sneeze out measles molecules in an area and it will "hang" there for hours...no direct contact needed.  Research done says the aversion to vaccines has to do with the ages of parents now...they have no experience or recall of just how horrible childhood diseases can be so therefore, to opt out is done so with ignorance of consequences.  There are other graves of children who died of diseases we can now prevent here at Jewish Cemetery, across the street at Old City Cemetery, down the street at Magnolia and St. Matthew's cemeteries and if I know anything, it's what their parents would have given to have had access to a serum that could have saved their beloveds' lives.  No doubt, Mr. and Mrs. Ferd Levi would agree.