Growing up I never really heard much about the 1918 flu pandemic. It was more about the blizzard of ’78, and how much that impacted my family. With this being said, an environmental change only killing about 100 people, and causing a lifestyle change was able to have an immense impact, never mind the detriment this pandemic brought to so many families. When watching videos and reading more about this pandemic, I soon learned about the impact it had on so many people, no matter the age. My eyes strayed toward the heading I Survived, and I began to read about other people’s experiences, and the difficulties this pandemic brought into their life without notice. I selected one close to home, in a small town in Pennsylvania. Betty Somppi expressed her feelings and shared her experiences with this pandemic and it nearly blew my mind. Not only was she diagnosed with this flu, but she was given an ultimatum of life or death. She had the opportunity to try a new medication and have a slight chance of a longer life or try to recover on her own which wouldn’t give her even the night. There was no other hope than this last push for a shot; something no one knew the outcome of. With giving this doctor a try, she risked her life and woke up the next morning breathing. This is mind blowing to me. The flu pandemic put so many lives on the line and split of so many families due to having to be put in quarantine. It is insane at how quickly it spread and without the necessary technology back then, people were putting their lives on the line to try anything and get their lives back.
I then veered my eyes towards a heading called Plantings. I wasn’t at all sure about what this would be about but after reading the narrative written by Robert Lynn Davis, out of Tennessee, I was in complete shock. Even without ever having the flu, this family was put through so much mentally and physically. Once his father’s job was closed, and they relocated their family, his dad was again put to work. His job was to dig graves for the dying people. 1/3 of the world population was dying just because of this illness, and his father was digging hundreds of holes for bodies to spend the rest of their ‘lives’ in. His memories aren’t going and thinking back on spending time with his family, but instead watching a whole family die in the matter of a day and getting the courage to keep digging so these bodies had somewhere to rest. No time for coffins, so just a hole in the ground was satisfactory. It is insane at what people had to go through even when this illness wasn’t inside of you, but the fact that he stepped up and took on this role is incredible.
Questions:
Betty Somppi: How hard was it to say yes to this medication with little knowledge about what the outcome was for you?
Robert Lynn Davis: Even though you weren’t dealing with this illness inside of you, how was it mentally, knowing you were digging holes for dead bodies, some of which you may have known growing up.
