Sometimes in the deep of night I lay awake staring at the dark ceiling and thoughts of what's happening with society and the world run through my head. It's these times when I often stumble across good tidbits to use in my writing. Last night though, what I stumbled across was a terrifying realization. The largest part of it was stirred by the supposed Health-Care Bill.
My nation, my country of the USA is sick, very sick, and just like when I have to watch my children suffer through an illness, powerless to fix it, I am powerless to fix anything now. This country was once great. I'm still very proud to belong to her, but the foundations are crumbling so badly, the strong pillars she was built on are hardly recognizable.
I ask myself over and over if everyone has lost sight of what's really important and while I see some glimmers of hope, I'm more often served a dose of proof that we have.
One huge dose of truth: Both bills require all Americans to get health coverage or pay a penalty. A PENALTY for not having health insurance? WHAT THE HECK IS THAT! Not right, not right at all and the marrow in my bones twists in agony at the thought of it. It's one more dose of poison to kill just a little more of this great nation.
Oh, some may think it's no big deal. Everyone should have health insurance just like car insurance. Except we can choose to not have a car, how do we choose to not have health or life without ending it? This is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard of. And this might surprise you, but I do have health insurance as does my immediate family. But I know people who don't and they don't because they can barely afford to put food on the table let alone dump money into an insurance they may never collect on or if they try to, the insurance company will weasel out of it and give reasons why they won't pay or will pay just a little bit.
Come on "We the People" wake the hell up, will you! I'm begging you.
Something that might look wonderful, like some undoubtedly think of this health care bill, is never what it first appears. This fine for not having health insurance, what the heck is it for? Think really hard on why they would need that. And what happens to the person who makes just enough to cover food, shelter, and heat when they can't afford either. What kind of prices will be on these new health insurance plans? Who gets to decide what is affordable for a person? People behind a desk most likely who have nice cushy incomes and have no idea what it is to have absolutely nothing. It's my experience, living in poverty much of my life, that government pays little attention to the fact people must live - paying attention only to how much money they can squeeze out of each of us.
It's making me angry. Especially since my daughters are just getting old enough to have to deal with all this crap - crap that no one I know has caused, yet we will suffer the after affects of other's stupidity.
What's next, after they have forced us all to pay out the butt for health insurance or shovel over hundreds in fines and still can't support their deficit? What happens then? How far will things go in the name of fixing things?
Here's an idea - quit trying to make things better and go backwards a bit to fix up the foundation again so we can stand with our heads high.
Yeah, I know, crazy, right. That's why I'm a fiction writer...
