I am writing this on October 6, 2013 and the US government is shut down because a few people in the government are able to shut it down and prevent democratically chosen laws and rules to take effect. They are probably quite aware that it corrupts the idea of democracy, but they justify it by feeling that they are desperately trying to save America.
In the 1960s, I saw banners that said, “Fighting for peace, is like fucking for chastity.” Years of using loopholes to keep the government from functioning. Using obstructionism as a weapon to defeat and contain the will of the people, seems like kind of the same thing to me. It really seems like a kind of terrorism to me. There was a nice piece about it on CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/02/opinion/fitzpatrick-skocpol-shutdown-extremism/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
This post that I have written here, is another one of my attempts to explain some of the things that I think are very wrong with the American medical system. Things that unnecessarily bankrupt families and cause people to suffer unnecessarily and sometimes die unnecessarily. If you think I am foolish for having that opinion, then save yourself the time, and just go on to a different post. But, please have a look down this page, at the link “Cab Ride”, before you go.
The fact that, independent evaluation, shows that the United States of America has the most unhealthy people of the industrialized nations. That we spend more than twice as much per capita as any other nation. If those things don’t bother you, then I’ll just say, I think that they should.
If you think that I might have learned something important, during three years of almost constant research and effort to save Janet’s life, then you might want to read the following links with an open mind. My articles are certainly not perfect, and I don’t say that these links are either. But, I think that they are useful assessments of the mess that we are in. A mess that includes thousands, probably millions, of sincere, hard-working, knowledgeable people, that are doing everything they can think of to help.
But, I believe that there are major puppet masters that keep the system rigged so that the puppet masters get extremely rich. I realize conspiracy theories are politically incorrect. Make up your own mind.
But, I will not believe that anyone can defend things like charging a fortune on your medical bill, for ‘mucous removal device’ that turns out to be a box of facial tissue. I totally understand that, just like you and me, people want to be compensated for their time and effort, but, I don’t think anyone needs to dig very deeply to see that there are incredible scams going on.
That’s just my considered opinion, having spent three years helping both my mother and Janet try to deal with America’s health care system.
One of my mother’s medications cost just over $100 where she usually bought it. But, an hour on the telephone, allowed me to buy exactly the same medication, for just over $10 at Sam’s Club.
I recommend the following links, and they contain links that will lead you to other articles that may interest you. Clearly Dr. Mercola, is very busy, trying to sell you things. If you sign up for his newsletter, you may want to use an email address that you can abandon if he overloads you. But I find that I often enjoy his articles, and I ignore the others.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/05/us-health-care-system.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/11/26/death-by-medicine-part-one.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/04/death-by-medicine-an-update.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/09/preventable-medical-errors.aspx
And in closing, my friend Helen, one of several Helen’s that I cherish, sent me an inspirational Cab Ride story on Facebook. Thank you Helen. However, I think that the version on Snopes is even better and is probably more accurate. There is no reason that Snopes cannot be wrong, or even some sort of evil programming conspiracy. But, I think it is usually quite good for debunking urban legends and getting closer to the truth.
Last Cab Ride
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/cabride.asp
In finding my way to the Snopes version, I read a version that ended with the following:
What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What
if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.
But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU
SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.
If you have read to this point, you won’t have to be asked to pass it along
you just will…Thank you, my friend…
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well dance
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09:00 AM on 05/05/2012
I wrote the story, and your questions are more than fair. I thought nothing of it at the time, but it did happen as I wrote it. Perhaps the woman did not say she was going to a hospice, but to a nursing facility — I wrote it twenty years after the event, so my memory, which always is an adventure, was foggy. Why 2:30? I don’t know. Did I think it was strange? Not at the time. When you drive a cab the stories of a single night could fill a book. You do what you can; you do what you must. Sadness, joy, fear, and all manner of unlikely occurrences are part of every shift. I’d be happy if this became an urban legend, and I’d be even happier if it became a story claimed by hundreds of cab drivers. It would speak to the good hearts and intentions of people who do a difficult and too often denigrated job
Kent Nerburn
I particularly like the quote: “Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well dance.”
At least three times during the last year of Janet’s life, we truly believed that she was going to die within hours. Somehow, each time it was always in the middle of the night, when we would sit and reminisce about all the wonderful things that we had done together. We were both disappointed beyond words, that there were so many things that we were planning to do but had not yet done.
Somewhere a few days ago, I read a nice article by some expert on what people experience as they know that they are going to die within weeks, days or hours. It came to a similar conclusion. You generally regret most, the things that you did not do. But, that you can hopefully derive great pleasure from the many nice things that you have done.
It’s an old idea, but no less true for that. Today is an important day in your life. We all know that there’s a limited number of these days. And I certainly realize that it is not a large number. Make every day the best you can.
Dave
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