Apparently, Polio and the Bubonic Plague are Still Being Protested. By Me.

So, when I was seven years old, maybe younger, probably younger, I went to a science museum. Maybe it was some other sort of museum, but it was probably a science museum. At this museum, there was an exhibit on polio. I had no idea what "eradicated" meant, and I also just obviously didn't understand that it was no longer a big threat to the United States, so I picked up a button that looks something like this:

Correction: It looks exactly like that, because it IS that.

I took it completely seriously and was absolutely convinced that it was a total threat to my life, and I had no idea that I had had a vaccination for it when I was a baby, which was probably due to being too young to remember such a thing. Well, recently I found this pin again and showed it to my brother.

BROTHER: What is that?

ME: An anti-polio badge. (NOTE: I considered saying, "I got it when I defeated Virusia, the leader of the Polio Gym in Appendages City." I didn't say it.)

BROTHER: [starts to laugh] You know polio was eradicated in the USA, right? You're protesting something that's no longer a threat. Where did you even get that?

ME: A museum when I was something like seven years old... or younger...

BROTHER: That's hilarious.

So I wore it to school the next day, on my hat. When my "twin" saw it, she said, "What is that?" I told her, then started chanting, "No more polio! No more oppression!" She joined in with, "No more bubonic plague!! No more unfair stuff!!" We had some good laughs.

The button now sits proudly on my right coat pocket.

FUN FACT: My first time spelling "eradicated" for this post looked like "raticate," like the pokemon, but with an extra "er" at the beginning and a "d" at the end.