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Comment by llm_trw | Hacker News Reader

Just remember than not a century ago the average family would bury half their kids.

I remember reading that the upper classes didn't even name their children until they were a few years old and had gotten past the crucial disease stage.

Why only the upper classes?

I dont know if what he said is true, but passing on full first/middle name lineage was more common in the upper classes and that might have affected it.

You never look on the same river because each time you look there's different water flowing.

Yes, exactly my thought. The graveyard in my dad's hometown has a huge section just for small kids, because life in the country was tough, and that was normal.

I remember once walking through a graveyard and seeing three names on a single headstone - three children, siblings who had all died on the same day. Below their names was a simple caption: "All gone".

I have no idea what the story is or how those children died, but I think about that headstone all the time, especially now I have a child of my own. So much grief, pain and tragedy conveyed so succinctly. I'm clenching my gut right now just thinking about it as I type.

Tangential, and I am reluctant to share this in an important thread about loss and grief, but an occasional hobby of mine is finding an interesting headstone during my travels and researching the story.

- https://opposite-lock.com/topic/28187/memorial-mysteries

- https://opposite-lock.com/topic/4273/the-milhon-brothers-sub...

and even 100 years ago was so much better than 200 years ago https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041693/united-states-al...

Let's hope the impact of RFK Jr on US health and vaccination of children won't be too big.

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