I'm a Jerk
This news article prompted it: http://www.news4jax.com/news/14193259/detail.html
Now mind you, as an allergy sufferer, I understand that it's something that got dumped on you and there's nothing that can be done about it. But as a peanut lover, and especially a lover of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, this absolutely stinks. I think in the case of extreme food allergies, the many shouldn't need to sacrifice for the few. In this case, one kid with a peanut allergy has forced all students at the school to give up peanut products.
This would tend to imply that the kid is going to get sick if he's just near peanuts. I'm really curious, at this point, how this kid is going to survive in life. At the grocery store by my house you have to walk by the produce stands to get in the store. The produce stand that includes peanuts, caramel apples covered in peanuts (man I love those). When making your purchase you need to walk through the cash registers, where they sell bags of nuts. In other words, going to this grocery store will kill this kid.
The choice we're presented with here is that the entire world that this child will encounter must be sanitized of peanuts, or he'll die. This is going to come to a rude shock to his parents, but sometimes severe allergies are God's way of saying you'd best make good use of the short time you have in this world.
I'm going to admit it: I'm a selfish jerk. I'm not giving up my peanuts, which are generally a healthy food and most of the world consumes happily, because it happens to be a deadly poison for a very small minority of people. To paraphrase Charleton Heston, they'll pry the peanuts from my cold dead hands.
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Actually, the random
Actually, the random workings of human biology (particularly allergic reactions, which are very wierd and very little understood) are gods' way of saying "I didn't design any of this; in fact no-one did and there's no-one else around to blame for everything except yourself, so try a little responsibility every now and then", or, to put it another way, when something is a deadly poison to somebody then they're not being especially unreasonable to ask that you don't fling it around them. Adults can take precautions, but children won't understand the potential consequences and do you really want to be the one to explain to your kid that the peanut butter on their hands from lunch that they didn't wash off was what killed little Johnny when you were playing WWF in the playground?
Walking past peanuts won't do this kid any harm, no-one is that allergic, but kids don't understand about cross contamination, so parents have to take the responsibility on their behalf. Unless, of course, you think that we should just let natural selection do its thing and just let the weakest of the herd die...?
They should extend the ban
They should extend the ban to all of Florida, and then the world.
My children are allergic to bee stings. Rather than avoid bees, the world should bend to accommodate their precious health issues by banning all bees worldwide, no matter the cost. Because after all, no sacrifice is too great to protect the wee ones and keep them safe.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting.
That's why I said I'm a jerk. If you have a deadly allergy to a common food item, make the time you have count. It is unfortunate, but something that cannot be avoided. Not every person who is born gets to live a long life, and there isn't always something that can be done about it.
You can have all the righteous indignation you want. It won't save the life of these kids.
Clay Dowling
http://dowling.lazarusid.com/blog/1
Hmmm... Here is an interesting twist.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article2547541...
At least some people are doing it correctly.
From the article - A boy who suffers from a severe nut allergy has been excluded from school because he is considered to be a health and safety hazard.
Too bad nobody in the U.S. has enough balls to pull something like this off.
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