Like I said, your ancestors had 99% more courage and confidence in the face of danger you can’t even begin to imagine. But, we are a terrified people and so we continue to build a safety space cocoon around ourselves.
Pretty sure my great^9 grandmother who never saw her parents again after leaving an impoverished village in Alsace for Louisiana, married some widower she’d never met, died of one of the epidemics that swept through coastal Louisiana on the regular in the 18th century, or her daughter (my great^8 grandmother) who was married a few months later at age 14 to an older man, pumped out at least 7 children, then died of another epidemic at 24 wouldn’t have minded my life of relative wealth, ease and personal freedom (college! Moving abroad but flying home each year! Marrying around 30! Having a kid only after I really, really wanted to! Vaccination against a new epidemic a mere 18 months after it started!)
The idea that people made their lives intentionally harder in the past is absolutely ludicrous. Almost every person in history would swap places with me right now in a heartbeat.
The ancestors would have taken the vaccine in a heartbeat (as they did with polio). The ancestors worked really hard and faced all that danger to make the world a better, safer place so they didn't have to watch loved ones die. People that don't take the vaccine are spitting in their faces.
