Education on the Issues Goes a Long Way

I've received some good but predictable emails on my Rapid City Journal piece on Governor Rounds' Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination plan.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Perhaps you should read the information on when the vaccination is effective for a girl. By the time your child is an adult, the vaccine will be of no value.

This reader should check out what the Centers for Disease Control has to say about the vaccination. Age isn't a factor; only previous sexual contact.

Here's another:

...you go to far in talking about "irresponsibility." Girls ought to be protected--not necessarily from their lack of responsibility--from the possible lack of responsibility by their future husbands.

I addressed that in my column:

If someday she plans to marry a man who made the mistake of not waiting for marriage, I would encourage her to get the vaccination during her engagement.

A little reading and education goes a long way in understanding the issues. When we take the time to investigate matters for ourselves, and stop relying on the pablum we're fed by a media that has an agenda, we often find things aren't as they've been portrayed.

And we often find that virtue and responsibility, while still no cake walk, are more attainable than we might have thought.