I am baffled and saddened by the anger and fear which is dominating the debate regarding health care. In the US we never have a discussion, but always a debate. A discussion sounds hopeful of finding an agreeable solution to a problem, but a debate is one step from an argument it is seldom viewed or portrayed as a vehicle for harmony. We are being trained and provoked into battling each other through fear and hatred. We are being encouraged to be close minded and judgmental and emotionally outraged by the words “of the other side”.
Words no longer evoke thought but rather provoke emotional reactions. Any word uttered is immediately pigeon holed into some ideological caricature fraught with emotional negativity. No one can speak without being labeled a socialist, communist, neoconservative, or conspirator due to the vocabulary they use.
I don’t feel doing the right thing or trying to be a caring and empathetic individual is beholding to any particular ideology. I’m not sure what the solution is, but the problem is pretty clear. We have far too many people in this country who have no health insurance. Wanting everyone to have the basics in life to survive such as food, shelter, clothing and health care should not make you into bleeding heart or a Pollyanna. It should not be ethically tolerable for the wealthiest nation in the world to deny its citizens the basics of survival.
Supplying all citizens with access to the basic needs of life should be a given. One can earn many things, and one should take a responsibility for many things, but the necessities of life should be given to all, because it is the humane, just and right thing to do. We shouldn’t let greedy people goad us into fearing and hating the unfortunate even if they could have done something to at least partially prevent it. Most of us are very fortunate to have the lives we do and thinking ourselves better than our neighbor helps no one including ourselves.
Access to life’s basic necessities should be available for all people on the planet. The following song lyrics are from Denizens of Danger and can be found on the Edge of Eden CD in the music section of this site.
Denizens of Danger
I may not look like you
I may not talk like you
I may not show love like you
I may not believe as you
We’re all denizens of danger
I may not behave as you
I may not debate like you
I may not die like you
I may not show faith as you
We’re all denizens of danger
I want to live
You want to live
We want to live
That is why we keep on trying
I want to live
You want to live
We want to live
That is why I give
There’s no truth for all to agree
For you’ll be you and I’ll be me
A common goal a mass decree
In our lives we must feel free
We’re all denizens of danger
I want to live
You want to live
We want to live
So let’s live
I’m not going to give up trying to live
Jim Guido