Jelle (yell'-a) Pelmulder was the founding father we'd all love to claim. He was one of the four adventurers who loaded themselves and their gear into a prairie schooner and left the Pella, IA, area to have a look at wide-open country in the far corner of the state, where, it was said, wonderful grassland was not only open for settlement but also big enough for yet another whole Dutch kolonie. When they returned, it was Jelle who showed off a collection of grasses and forbs that made the land-locked itchy swoon for this far-off prairie dreamland.
In just a few years, Jelle was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court of Sioux County, a position in which he served, most honorably, until retirement.
Just eleven years after the first white settlers arrived, Jelle Pelmulder lost his wife to smallpox, a killer not at all rare at the time.
"Although the smallpox vaccine was developed in 1796," the museum note says, "Dutch Calvinists opposed vaccination as they thought it thwarted the power of God."
Let me do some editing. "Although the vaccine was found to be 99 percent effective in controlling Covid, the Dutch of Sioux County opposed vaccination as they thought it thwarted the power of Donald Trump."
That's where we are, 150 years later.
Approximately 70 percent of the county is unvaccinated. Approximately 70 percent of the county voted for Donald J. Trump.
 |
| Four Pella adventurers exploring Sioux County |
2 comments:
Let me do some editing:
- didn't want the gov't to tell them what to do.
- didn't trust the science behind the vaccine.
- didn't want to put their lives in the hands of men, but trusted God.
Is there more going on here than "Donald Trump?"
Are we really listening to one another's point of view?
Yes, we are listening. Proof? There is no mandate--yet, no law requiring vaccination, no gov't issued ID card to witness to our having been vaccinated. The air is filled with the sound of Sturgis Harleys. Hospital rooms are full, but no one is turned away, even though Texas is recruiting more doctors. The numbers are staggering, but people still retain the right to refuse the vaccine. We're listening, all right, but for how long is a good question. How many more patients will require intensive care hospital rooms? How many more people have to die? We've listened all right. Our not listening is not the problem.
Post a Comment