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My day started out with Charlie telling me that Hillary got her magic 10% victory. I should have taken that cue, and went back to bed and just stayed there. But, I’m an optimist, and so I take the news in stride and continue with my plans for the day, Charlie makes me a nice breakfast, and I enjoy the coffee he made earlier too. Play with Rocky a little, and get myself ready for work.
In the office, it didn’t take long before my opinion on the Pennsylvania Primary results was sought by my Republican former manager. Some back and forth light hearted banter ensued, and soon my cubicle neighbor chimed in, not too long thereafter, my team lead puts his two cents in, and we’re in a full blown political philosophy debate. From intellectual strength (or lack thereof in the case of Bush) to illegal immigration, and ultimately to health care. It’s that topic, Universal Health Care, in which my patience for this morning conversation found it’s limit. I excused them with the statement that I had had enough, and had work to do, please go away.
But, it didn’t stop my thoughts from lingering around the topic of Universal Health Care. No, they lingered there for a while. And I thought how we always hear that we live in the greatest country … yada yada yada… and I just have to wonder, if that’s the case, how come we’re not great enough to provide medical care for all our citizens? Why do we flinch from such a basic need being filled as an example of our superiority? Would we feel that we were great, if the large cities in our land didn’t have clean water, or waste treatment facilities?
If garbage was filling our streets, and not taken away and buried in the outskirts of town. Our fire fighters and police officers provide us services that if we’re fortunate, we never need to use, but they are there, a phone call away, when we need them. We face the potholed roads in the spring, and know that soon enough, the holes will be filled by someone, the mail will be delivered, the grass growing in the parks will be mowed, the road kill will be taken care of, and stray animals will be caught. But just as those facts of life in America are a certainty, so is the fact that all over this nation, right now, there are people making the choice between purchasing their medication, or their food, or paying their utility bills, or mortgages. There are people who are forced by their failure to obtain preventative treatments - who will have serious medical conditions treated in Hospital Emergency rooms. There are good honest hard working people, who have a tragic event or condition in their lives, forced to declare bankruptcy, because of their medical expenses. It’s easy to say that these people made poor choices, decided to buy themselves frivolous comfort items instead of investing in their medical insurance needs. But the reality is that even with Medical insurance, the health insurance companies are in a for-profit business, where they decide whether or not to pay the bills for your treatment, and if they have the financial incentive to deny your claim, it’s a lottery your playing with your security. Your number might not come up this time or next, but your friends number, your loved ones number, your coworkers number, your babysitter’s, your kid’s school teacher’s, the person that makes your no-fat-latte, the girl at the gym that scans your id, that nice man at your church or synagogue, the clock ticks, and every day someone’s number comes up.
So when someone tells you, you live in the greatest nation that ever existed on this planet we call earth, you can tell them it’s pretty good, but it could be better. And if you agree, please go to Divided We Fail, and sign the petition.
