The Greatest Threat of the 21st Century: POLIO

Whilst stuffing envelopes this week at my temp job at the Red Cross, I came across this article:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/entertainment/5268736/american-artist-andrew-wyeth-dies/

Okay so a famous painter passed away. Several things caught my eye in this article:

1) He died in Pennsylvania...Rock on PA! Maybe my mom knows him...

2) The word Brandywine makes me think of Lord of the Rings.

3) He was the painter of Christina's World.

I'm no art connoisseur but I know Christina's World because it forever scarred me in 2nd grade and is also the reason I am still deathly afraid of polio. Our art teacher, Mrs. Fink, introduced our class to what I can only assume was Realism and showed us this hot pic:

At first sight it just looks like some chick in a pink frock crawling around in a parched field. Maybe she's lost? Maybe she's a ghost? Maybe she has a llama face and doesn't want to turn around? Also, what's with the house in the background? Is it haunted? Does someone live there? How do they get mail? Where do they go to school? What do they do for a living? Why is the grass so dry? Doesn't it rain there? Why would you live in a dilapidated house in an area struck by drought? So many questions. Thanks to ol' Finkie though we learned that the girl in the picture, Christina, had polio.

...

Polio? What's polio? I was in 2nd grade and the things on my mind usually revolved around chicken nuggets, trees and my Playmobil collection. What I remember Mrs. Fink telling us is that polio is a crippling disease primarily contracted by children at public pools in which you slowly become paralyzed to the point of asphyxiation. I swam my entire life so as soon as she said "pool...legs...paralyzed...asphyxiation" I thought, my God I'm doomed. The picture stayed up in the art room for what seemed like a flipping eternity and every time we had art I would stare at the picture in absolute horror thinking polio would claim its next victim in me and my love for swimming and the use of my legs. Nevermind the fact that polio hadn't been a problem for 30+ years in the U.S.

The other horrifying part of this art(?) lesson were the pictures Fink showed us of the devices used to treat polio. For example, ever fancy a ride in an Iron Lung?

Okay, what is going on in this picture? That kid looks like he's being eaten by a robot earthworm. Can he move his arms? Can he move anything?! (Probably not because the poor chap has polio). And where is Nurse Suzy's hand going? It looks like one of those glass cases at a science museum where you stick your hand in and touch a baby chick or a pile of spaghetti or something. Or the metal tubes they use to test submarines in - one of the two for sure.**

So me, in 2nd grade seeing all these pictures, thinks let me get this straight...you contract this disease from swimming in public pools, you slowly become paralyzed and you either wind up stuck in a metal hot dog or stuck in a dry field? I don't know which is worse but I do know that whoever left that Christina girl in that field sucks. How did the girl with polio get way out there anyway? Are there woods nearby? Do you think she can use the facilities on her own? Maybe she crawls from town to town looking for something new to do?

Because of Christina's World and photos of the Iron Lung I was (and still kind of am) terrified of contracting polio, especially after I learned that one of my mom's cousins passed away from it in the 50's. Nothing screams TIME to START PANICKING more than having a relative die from a practically eradicated disease. I also believe this explains my fascination with other visibly horrific diseases such as the Black Plague and Leprosy as well as the Medieval remedy of blood letting via leeches.

So my suggestion to the countries or the people or whomever wants to take part in Biological Warfare is release some strands of polio en masse, scare the living daylights out of millions and win the attention you want.

...

Or maybe just some pictures of Christina's World will do the trick.

- Libby

**Doesn't it always seem that medical devices prior to 1970 are more frightening than the actual affliction in which they're used to treat? For example, early electric shock therapy:

Or these really sterile looking tree saws used for early 20th century surgery:

Or this gem from some 17th century medical journal:

God only knows what this loon was diagnosed with. I can only imagine the conversation that must have transpired between this dude and his doctor: "Well sir, it appears you're suffering from googly eyes." You would think the medical world would have tried harder to make their restorative instruments more friendly or aesthetically pleasing. At least TRY to hide the giant screw you're going to drill into someone's noggin. I'm sure this provides a partial explanation as to why society has been scared of the doctor's office for centuries.