Day 162: So Much for Do Unto Others

It is not about liberal or conservative politics, in fact, it is not about politics at all. Sometimes it is a matter of human decency. Where is the concern for others in our race to score a bigger paycheck, have a nicer house, pay more for childcare? As a society we have lost sight of our humanity. I don’t care about Capitalism or Socialism or Republicans, Democrats, the Green Party, I care about people having food, shelter, a modicum of security in a frightening world. Are you really so much more concerned with sending your child to the school down the street rather than enduring the horrors of bussing them a district over to “that” school than teaching your children that people matter, regardless of their socio-economic status, accent or social skills?

We used to teach our children to respect their elders and authority figures, which had the unwitting effect of creating a mindless group of children afraid to say no to an abuser or exert their instinctual street sense. The end result was a polite society that missed the main point, do not respect people simply because they are older or in a uniform, we should respect people because they are people. I have never agreed with the statement that people need to earn respect. Respect is a given, it can be lost, but should exist from square one. What has happened to our common sense? A woman who was the victim of rape lost her health insurance and cannot procure another policy because her being victimized necessitated counseling and anti-HIV meds in case she contracted HIV. The anti-HIV meds, standard protocol for rape victims, made her uninsurable due to a pre-existing condition. Since she didn’t actually contract HIV, that pre-existing condition is her rape.

Why do we fear change in health care to the point that we’d rather see people suffering go without than to sacrifice our own even a little? It’s not about socialism, it’s about if it is ever okay to have two percent of the population have 100 percent of the benefits and 98 percent make do with whatever they can. We all come from varying circumstances, no two lives are exactly alike, but some people I know got lucky. Raised in affluent families they could afford great schools or had contacts who gave them a leg up in their careers while others scraped and worked for everything, including just trying to figure out how to go school, what a career means and overcoming a family without education or career aspirations.

I don’t want to work hard only to see my money pay for someone else when I am barely making it on my own, but the point is that I AM making it. Some people are not and just the very fact that I am human is enough for me to want to help those who need it. If we all give a little, no one will have to give a lot and then you might not have to be bothered by people asking you for money on the streets. Can we not stop hoarding our material goods long enough to be okay with helping someone else just because they need it. We’re a society run amok. Common sense and human decency seems to have gotten left behind.