I know, I know. Having children in a world where the population is reaching its upper limit is not just crazy, but irresponsible. I know this. However, sometimes this happens and when it does, it can be magical and challenging as well as liberating and empowering.

When my wife and I had our baby 16 months ago, we were forced to make a choice: give our child the recommended vaccinations or trust the research regarding the harms and don’t get the vaccinations. Our baby is so precious and loving that we couldn’t see ourselves risking our baby’s life with these generally unhealthy vaccines. So, our baby was never vaccinated.

“There’s nothing like being a parent,” people used to tell me. Now I say, “there’s nothing like having to make the decisions that parents have to make!” It’s one thing to make risky decisions for oneself. It’s another thing entirely to make them for someone else. And imagine how difficult it is to make life or death decisions for one’s own children that go against the right-wing, status quo in the U.S.?

I focus on this point because I feel that all too often, activists and left-wing type folks undervalue the experiences of parents. And when we think about working, left-wing, progressive, radical, and critical-thinking parents, we often fail to realize the special challenges they are faced with. Very few people choose to write about these experiences as being a part of the fundamental economic and social changes we hope to make.

To drive this point home, myself and our baby recently contracted Pertussis (whooping cough). Apparently, it’s more common in our area than is commonly thought. This isn’t just a normal cough. Rather, it’s a serious cough that can lead to all kinds of other phsyical problems and in some rare cases, even death. I was vaccinated for Pertussis when I was a child, but the vaccination loses strength as one gets older. Our baby was not vaccinated, as mentioned above, so our baby’s experience is much worse. Our baby doesn’t even know the reason for the cough, only that it hurts.

And that’s the point. We had to make a decision about this particular vaccination for our baby. In our case, it appears that we made the wrong decision. But, we’re sure that if given a chance to go back in time and give our baby the vaccination in order to avoid the current suffering, we would choose NOT to vaccinate once again.

Even though the Pertussis is making our baby uncomfortable, our baby will be immune to it for up to 10 years from this point. A natural immunization, if you will. Our baby is slowly recovering from it after a round of antibiotics, so all seems to be well.

Just as blocking an intersection causes pain and suffering from abusive police forces, stopping the cycle of abuse from pharmaceutical companies sometimes causes similar pain and suffering. There are many examples of everyday activism where people are forced to make decisions that may one day lead them to pain and suffering. These decisions are often difficult to make but often very necessary and helpful to the issues at hand. I think it’s time to thank the radical parents among us for making the tough choices just as we would thank the radical activists for putting their lives at risk in the intersection.

My wife and I are having another baby that’s due in December. Now, we’re faced with the same decision once again; to vaccinate or not. But this time, we know Pertussis is around us and we’re more aware of the risks to our new baby. So do we decide to vaccinate our new baby or not? It’s like we’ve just been let out of jail after a grueling standoff between ourselves and the police and we’re now being asked to sit right back down in that same intersection. Would YOU have the courage to do it again?

Thank you radical parents!