This whole healthcare situation has really gotten me upset of late and I won't try to go into it all of it here. One of the statements made by a lawmaker recently is particularly vile. Lightly paraphrasing, he said that good people don't get sick. People who lead good lives and do the right thing don't need as much health care and so shouldn't have to pay into the system as much as the people who lead bad (his words, not mine) lives and don't do the things they should do.
That would mean that Jimmy Kimmel's little newborn baby who had a heart condition at birth didn't lead a good life, didn't do the right things. Or was it his mother or father who did bad things that caused the heart condition?
And who knows what the "right" things are to do? We're constantly being told one thing is good and another thing isn't and then having the information reversed a week later! I have known many people who do all the right things for their health who get cancer or some other disease and who need healthcare. The health of our bodies should not be a moralistic issue.
I am reminded of a woman who had cancer and came to one of my classes. She had led the "good life" as far as eating and drinking and exercising, still came down with cancer, and now some metaphysical types were telling her she had the cancer because of her thinking. The young woman was in tears feeling guilty, afraid, and lost and wanting to know what to do.
Life is more complicated than we would like to admit. I told the young woman that I didn't know why she was sick and I certainly didn't have the answer for her. But what I did know and shared with her is that she had no reason to feel guilty about her illness - that would only make her sicker. I told her maybe the reason she was sick was to teach the people in her life how to be more compassionate.
And that is where I end up with this whole not-healthcare mess. I ask this question: As a people, as a nation, have we lost our compassion for one another? Have we fallen into such a we-versus-them mind-set that we are willing to let people get sick and die rather than provide a proper healthcare safety net? Are we willing to put money ahead of people and their wellbeing?
Some of the folks who voted for this not-healthcare bill admit they didn't even read it before voting. One representative from South Carolina said he tried to read it but it was so complicated he doubted others would read it either. Plus, he said, that's why they have staff. His staff had read and vetted it for him! Could you do that at your job? Could you be in the position of enacting some sort of company-wide policy and not even knowing what it was before taking action? I think someone needs to lose his job over that decision.
What's happening in our country right now is way beyond politics. We are being asked to take the temperature of our soul as a nation. I fear we do indeed have a illness. I hope our insurance policy covers our care or will it be deemed a pre-existing condition?
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