I had my 63rd birthday this past July at the beach. I kind of like that because I can use something hopeful and happy to look forward to and measure another year reached, another piece of existence enjoyed and another to look forward to. You know not every morning but many many more than should be the case, I wake up do my little chores, get my coffee and settle down in front of the computer as I also listen to CNN and the news of the world. These days the news is troubling and deeply so to me personally.
In 2008, my belief system forced me to change direction in what political party I supported. I left the Republican Party and threw my heartfelt support behind hope and change as represented by Barack Obama. The election was hard fought and heartfelt. I experienced anger, sadness, ecstasy and victory all in one year and it was a great thrill even before we got to the beach again in 2009. What a year! Do you remember those millions of people from diverse backgrounds that stood and watched, many with tears in their eyes, as Obama stood and took the oath of office? Do you remember the surge of emotion, the unstoppable hope that made your heart swell and your eyes mist? This was victory. This was a new beginning, a messianic like arrival of a new age of hope and change! There were young adults with children, young college students holding hands, middle aged couples embracing, old men and women standing weeping with joy and the silent tears that marked and tracked through their wrinkled faces stirred those of us who watched from our homes. And then they left.
One of the fundamental causes that was a constant and a predominant factor in these millions of people who supported Obama was the promise of Health Care for all. The people of the United States elected this President to bring these promises to fulfillment and to stay the storm of resistance from the Insurance industry. It did not happen, it has not happened and it may never happen! What is wrong here?
What is wrong here? Where are those millions of people who stood and cheered the new President and supported his cause. Where are the young couples, the young students, the African-American young men and women and the many Hispanic-American men and women? The answer is sad and I cannot excuse it. They are not there. I was sent a racist video after the election by a prior fellow employee of the Post and Courier. It showed a young Black women singing, dancing and rejoicing that she was going to get money, she didn't need to work anymore and that Obama would bring her the wealth she deserved. This was a totally racist portrayal, yet taking her portrayed attitude and applying it to an over reaching attitude of complacency that exists today amongst all the many supporters of Obama, you have where we are now. For some strange and foolish reason, too many of those millions think that well, "everything is going to be all right now because we won." We won? We won what? We won an election. That is all we won and somehow we all forgot that was only a beginning, a major battle but by no means did it mean we had won the war! We fell for the same mistake that George Bush made when he stood on the deck of that aircraft carrier and proclaimed victory in Iraq.
If somehow the Democratic Party can reawaken the youth, the minority voters and the many older citizens that sit now in their complacency just expecting good things to happen, then and only then will the hopes for change come to fruition. It takes work! It takes hard work and sweat and grit to stay the course from all. Get back out there! I tried to go to a local "town hall meeting". I voiced my opinion over the cries of the loud and rabid right wingers that dominated the crowd. I donate my money to the cause when asked and when I can. However a deep sadness comes over me because I know in my heart that his fight for Health Care, for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is lost if all of us do not participate as we did during the election battle. Our voices must be heard, counted and heeded.
However, what is wrong here and why are we seeing hope ebb away yet again? When I attended that "town hall meeting" around 95% of those attending were over the age of 55 and I saw few if any minorities and zero Democratic politicians in a Democrat's town, Charleston. Old people cannot win this war. Remember those silent tears that marked and tracked through the wrinkled faces of the old men and women watching Obama take office? If the youth and minorities of this country now think all is good, then I can only tell them that they should not weep for me or their elders when we go to the grave. They should weep for their children, because they had the chance to change this country and let it slip away.
What is wrong here? Ask yourself this question and then ask yourself if you are really doing all you can to win not just the battle but also the war. We can win and we must win but it will be as it was before, we will win together.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Links to Keith Olbermann's Health Care segment on MSNBC
(1) Saving American Lives: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217219
(2) A wake-up call to Washington: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217592
(3) Respecting pain and patient: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217446
(4) Companies betting on employee's lives: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217346
(5) America's widening health gap: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217296
(2) A wake-up call to Washington: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217592
(3) Respecting pain and patient: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217446
(4) Companies betting on employee's lives: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217346
(5) America's widening health gap: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217296
Afford to Live
At the urging of a friend, I just watched 4 news videos making up an hour of Keith Olbermann speaking to America about Health Care. He did it so well. It brought me to anger, to wanting to scream, to brimming tears and to resolution. To the resolution that there should never be a health care system that ones ability to stave off death for 5 years, 5 hours or 5 minutes is based on what a person can afford. To the resolution that this is not about politics it is about DEATH. I am dying, you are dying, we all are dying and although it may not be today, it will come. Should we or should you support a system where how long you live depends on what you can afford?! Olbermann lays out his case eloquently, emotionally and it is heart wrenching and mind boggling that the American public cannot see who the real enemy is that threatens their lives. It is not Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists or for that matter disease. It is Insurance companies. Without insurance, you have a 43% higher chance of death sooner than those insured. A person who used to smoke but quit, only has a 42% chance of dying sooner than someone who never smoked. Your risks without insurance are greater than if you once smoked! Olbermann points out that that gap of life expectancy is widening by 1% per year. In 1843 in the year of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" there was a 53% chance of early death, In 2014 in this country we call our own, the land of the American dream, those without insurance will have a 53% chance of dying sooner than those insured. Are we doomed to return to the world of Charles Dickens here in America?
I tried to write the following quote down accurately and I apologize if I mad any error in it but here it is: "Then there are the bills. How does one heal? How does one fight a cancer when you are lying in a hospital bed and the sound of the meter is running so loudly, you can hear it?"
For some 40 million Americans that have no insurance death waits, because they cannot afford insurance. Death is the issue and no other. It is death that at 63 years of age creeps ever closer. Whatever the argument, whatever the argued numbers of uninsured are, it is still MILLIONS. Can we afford it?
The links for each segment of Keith Olbermann's complete show on Health Care are below. PLEASE take the time to watch it in its entirety. I would rather have this shown in the schools than even a Presidential video. It is more important because there is nothing more important than life.
(1) Saving American Lives: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217219
(2) A wake-up call to Washington: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217592
(3) Respecting pain and patient: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217446
(4) Companies betting on employee's lives: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217346
(5) America's widening health gap: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217296
I tried to write the following quote down accurately and I apologize if I mad any error in it but here it is: "Then there are the bills. How does one heal? How does one fight a cancer when you are lying in a hospital bed and the sound of the meter is running so loudly, you can hear it?"
For some 40 million Americans that have no insurance death waits, because they cannot afford insurance. Death is the issue and no other. It is death that at 63 years of age creeps ever closer. Whatever the argument, whatever the argued numbers of uninsured are, it is still MILLIONS. Can we afford it?
The links for each segment of Keith Olbermann's complete show on Health Care are below. PLEASE take the time to watch it in its entirety. I would rather have this shown in the schools than even a Presidential video. It is more important because there is nothing more important than life.
(1) Saving American Lives: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217219
(2) A wake-up call to Washington: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217592
(3) Respecting pain and patient: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217446
(4) Companies betting on employee's lives: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217346
(5) America's widening health gap: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33217296
Friday, October 2, 2009
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