George Orwell in his novel "1984" foretold the coming of an egalitarian society which would be so equal yet some people would be "more equal than others."

This time has come.

Our school board has passed an edict that forbids peanuts of any kind in the diet of County school children. No peanut butter, no peanut bars, peanut dust. Not a molecule of the lovely peanut.

Why?

Because there is a child somewhere in the County who has a super allergy to peanuts. So sensitive is this child that even a whiff of peanut aroma could be fatal.

Our hearts go out to that child and his parents, his allergy must be a constant worry to them. But, is that justification for radically altering the diet of the other 99.99 % of children not similarly affected.

What’s next?

Are they going to disallow ham and pork chops because a Muslim child might be offended, suppose there was a P.E.T.A. child in the school. They would have to bar animal products or any sort?

And suppose we had a "bubble boy" (the child who lacks any immune system at all and has to be raised in a sterile bubble). Would be then require the other children not to breathe?

Peanuts are a staple part of our diet added to many of our prepared foods that the parents of a peanut sensitive child must have their hands full to keep their child uncontaminated, but, does that justify imposing hardship on parents of the great percentage who are not affected.

I am sensitive to poison ivy. Why has the county not come up with a multimillion-dollar scheme to rid the county of noxious plant?

I have a neighbor who is allergic to cats. Why not a massive cat slaughter throughout the County.

The lowly peanut has been the mainstay of poor people for generation. Being a child of the Great Depression, schooled during the deprived years of WWII, I got to know peanut butter up close and personal. I carried peanut butter sandwiches five days a week, as did every other kid in the class.

The rich kids made their sandwiches palatable by slathering generous layers of Concord grape jelly. We poor kids used molasses for the same purpose.

Kids nowadays probably don’t know what I mean by unpalatable peanut butter. The brands now all compete to be more smooth and creamy.

But Lord help us, back in the "good old days" peanut butter was packed in jars like cement mortar. You had to chisel it out of the jar.

And don’t try to hold a conversation with your tablemates back in the "good old days" as that old time peanut better clove to the roof of your mouth for hours. Cold milk only made it stick harder. If you were fortunate enough to have hot cocoa you could melt it loose in half the time.

I read a scientific study last week in the Washington Post which proved a theory that I have maintained for years, that child nowadays are raised too delicately.

The study wanted to find out why the immune systems of modern day kids were just not working. All sorts of new allergies, asthma, hives, digestive problems were showing up that could not be explained.

In the controlled study they found the answer. Children who were exposed in infancy to all sorts of bacteria in primitive surroundings were free of allergies, while the rate of allergy in children "properly raised" under the most modern hygienic conditions were showing increasing rates of allergy.

You never heard of sickly, asthmatic children back in the "good old days" when we grew up running through cow yards and hog pens; when we didn’t have electricity, no refrigeration or air conditioning, no indoor plumbing, our bathing was a Saturday ritual in the old #2 galvanize tub.

I found out how tough my immune system was after I left the farm and joined the U.S.A.F.

There came a time when the group I was assigned to had finished a particular school and should have moved routinely into the next phase.

But alas, the Air Force had made a scheduling boo-boo and had no school available for six weeks.

We sat around and sat around, young and full of vinegar, we wanted to get on with our studies. Finally an officer came up with an idea. We were allowed to enroll as guinea pigs for some aerospace studies that were just beginning at that time.

Now you talk about fun!

The scientist hooked us up to wires, then accelerated our bodies, decelerated us; they compressed and decompressed us. First we were weightless and then we weighed a ton. They put a hurting on our tough young bodies, but it was exciting.

"Men you are going to get sick in a hurry, but not to worry, we will be right here with antidote." We all drank doses of the toxic brew and shortly 19 out of 20 were retching and puking, I alone was unaffected by the mysterious concoction.

"Hmm," said the head doctor, "you must have immunity against this particular strain, we will try another on you."

And nothing.

Finally, the old doctor went back to a locked safe and came out with a botulism that would kill any organism on the planet. He told his aides, "Watch this subject closely. In an hour’s time he will be violently ill." Well, the hour went by, another hour, and another. "Son," the kindly old doctor said, "You are dismissed from this experiment, your immune system blocks out everything we try. I don’t understand it. Where did you grow up?"

I told him my history: raised on a tobacco farm in St. Mary’s County, playing in cow yards and hog pens, eating un-refrigerated food, and of course proudly boasted of getting a bath every Saturday night in the old No. 2 tub.

The doctor was busy scribbling in the journal, "Tell me, you said you had no refrigeration, how did you keep the milk from the cows you had?"

We just set the milk out in open bowls until it became clabber and ate the clabber.