The last Saturday in July and I'm staring out at a predawn ocean. It's been six years since I've done that--too long. The next couple of days I'm going to walk on the shore, enjoy the seagulls at work, sample the wares of the only sidewalk brewpub "cafe" in town--all with family. Sometimes I'll forget the lively sea I've come many miles to share with others is licking the shores of a deeply wounded and dying nation.
Inevitably conversations will turn to such things as politics because as much as we're on holiday to forget, policies that affect even the most apathetic of us don't take days off. A dying nation doesn't go to the beach for a few days and "be well, be normal" before returning to its work of dying.
Sometimes thoughts of the Neocon harpies' lament of the sad shape of our military under Clinton will invade my serenity here and I will smile. Smile because that's really laughable, the high state of preparedness restored to our over-extended, under-manned, ill-equipped forces being asked to do more and more with less and less.
Such was my reminder with news of the extension of thousands of Rumsfeld's troops for an additional four months in Iraq to restore order to increasingly chaotic Baghdad. That seemed to contradict Bush's praise of the growing US trained Iraqis assuming more and more control of their nation and its waning insurgencies. But that's just a pre-elections bullshit talking point.
At least we now have a military with renewed vigor and capability to carry on missions of aggression on multiple fronts thanks to our conservative government's misadventurism. What I find really exciting is more such adventures are on the drawing boards. Thank god we have a professional, all voluntary force that doesn't mind the sacrifices such antics require.
And there were a few unfortunate moments on the balcony overlooking the sea last evening when conversation turned to a caller on a talkshow with no health insurance who went to the emergency room of a hospital when his illness grew steadily worse. Of how he waited twenty-five hours before being treated. Yes, had he insurance, this might have been avoided. But this is America, richest nation on Earth. We don't have money for bullshit like citizen's health. We need those funds to make people around the world sick or dead from our aggressions.
It was then I learned of a family member's mother who had been in the hospital until they deemed her well enough to go home. She is 89 and was unable to walk at the time, but that didn't prevent the hospital from depositing her at their front door and waving her "good-bye" after dark one night! (Fortunately, an elderly gentleman from her neighborhood was discharged about the same time and with a cab they shared and his strong arm, she was able to get home as she laughed about what a sight they must have presented to curious neighbors.)
Maybe we should just look on such tales as metaphor for the state of health of this deathbed that has become America.
Like the news of the house passing a bill to raise the minimum wage--the first in nearly 10 years! Wow, another sign it's an election year? But, of course, it doesn't come without the audacious strings of conservatives, i.e., we'll raise your pitiful wages IF you give us another tax cut.
Sick, sick nation indeed!
4 comments:
I recently saw a news report somewhere about hospitals dumping homeless people on the street even though the patients hadn't fully recovered and had no home in which to heal.
Meanwhile, San Francisco is working on a plan for universal health care for all its citizens. This would involve forcing all companies to provide health insurance for their employees and the city would cover everyone else.
What are those SF liberals thinking? They'll drive business out of the city! Blah, blah, blah!
Ann Coulter's head will explode if the mayor succeeds at this. Another of his goals has been to house every elderly homeless person.
Dada, a truly serene beautiful picture. just seeing it cooled me down for a little bit! how long did the roman empire take to collapse? something like 400-yrs. We need to convert that to our current fast-paced world.
Your health ins story reminded me of another radio caller I heard yrs ago describing how when she & her young son were traveling in England for the summer, the son's chronic tonsilitis suddenly became too painful to postpone surgery. She was grousing to the hospital there about having to cut her vacation short, to get him back here to the U.S. because her health ins wouldn't cover "non-emergencies" out of their local area. The hosp worker acted like she was nuts, why not just have the operation done in England? Amount Due was "zero". That's right, not even the 20% co-pay she would've had to pay here. Her son was ready to resume their extended vacation in one week. And they weren't even citizens. Where are our priorities?
nona, I'll never forget living in Washington State in the early 80's when budget cuts mandated early release of all mental patients. Our city streets suddenly filled with very sad homeless obviously mentally ill people who had been literally bused in & dropped off downtown. Most had no clue what was up. When the winter snows started, many disappeared (if they were lucky enough to make it further south) or died. Would a caring nation allow this? They did! -- D.K.
Oh, D.K. I remember the 80s too. We still have a lot of mentally ill people living on the streets here.
It's so very sad.
nona, for some reason homelessness isn't obvious here in SW Utah. But just drive to Las Vegas & wow, it's depressing: flat-out crazy homeless & hopeless 24-hrs a day. I just commented on your blog about comedies, but in this context, I should also mention "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" and even Albert Brooks "Lost in America" (for completely different reasons). -- D.K.
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