It was the 1950’s, the Cold War, was at the freezing point, and as an elementary school student, going to a Pittsburgh Public School, we were a part of two government-sponsored iterations of health, welfare, and safety. Jonas Salk, a Pittsburgh scientist, and the professor was developing the Polio Vaccine, and the students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools became the Beta group, for which the vaccine was tried. The days of the Polio vaccine testing deemed like horror riddled moments, as I recall, because the moment the front door opened, there was this odor of rubbing alcohol, and nurses perfume, and the clanging of boxes of needles. That bit of government intervention proved to be promising, and I know now, that the angst and anxiety of a school-age kid, was well worth, the three seconds of fear, of the shot. The Government wanted to SAVE lives, had permitted a scientist, an educator, handle an illness, and kept all politics out of the entire scenario.
It was the 1950’s the Cold War was at a freezing point almost at the point of creating a new Ice Age, and ever since the invention of the Atomic Bomb, being used to stop the Japanese, most nations discovered, that instead of that weapon neutralizing a world at war it could indeed help to conquer the world! So in the city of Pittsburgh, the same elementary students used as Beta recipients for the Polio Vaccine, we also were used as dumb as shit Americans, by our government, with a plan to hide under our desks whenever we heard the Air Raid Sirens ringing, warning us that the Russians were coming to drop the BOMB. In our school, we called it the RETENTION DRILL. Unlike our typical Fire Drill alarm, the RETENTION DRILL was a noise, a long hammering gnawing moan which rang for about 5 seconds, started immediately after that and rang this time for a quite longer length of time. If we were in our classrooms, Retention Drill ordained kids would use the long wooden sticks to push up the windows and pull down the curtains. The teachers would clap her hand (we had maybe one or two male teachers back then, OMG it was the 50’s.) and all students would duck and cover under our desks, placing one hand over our heads, and the other to cover our eyes. After the Retention Drill, and our little hearts stopped beating out of our lungs, the principal would announce over the intercom, “this was just a test,” and by ducking and covering if the real bomb dropped over Pittsburgh we would all be safe and able to visit our families.
I only mention these two stories NOW, not for nostalgia purposes, but as a lesson from history, one learned and one ignored by the worst person in the universe, the American public could have as Commander-In-Chief! With the advent and onset of Polio, the government was pro-active, didn’t wait until the numbers of cases met some egocentric/narcissist/sadistic standard to be considered fact. And as with “the duck and cover,” bull shit hiding under our desks, this government is playing us fools, by not explaining the truth about yet another deadly attack on this government, and how to prevent dying from it, the Covid-19 virus. Imagine, the government understanding that the power of the Atomic Bomb was devastating, but pretending by JUST saying go about your day, all will be well. Now imagine Trump telling Americans, “don’t worry, be happy,” there is nothing to see here!
