The Healing of America

Yesterday, I wrote an entire rant on how awful people have become to each other in terms of providing healthcare to their fellow human beings.  I then gave myself 24 hours before posting it in order to cool off and revise it.  However, this morning on my way to work I heard about the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act, and a little bit of my faith in humanity returned to me.

I've never been a huge fan of "ObamaCare" (or Obama, for that matter), because I think it didn't go nearly far enough in providing healthcare for people who need it (which is all of us).  But I can appreciate that it at least got the healthcare conversation started, and it's at least a step in the right direction. 

What I can't understand is why we refuse to look at the healthcare systems around the world that are working and try to learn from them.  Our American exceptionalism keeps us from admitting that there are in fact countries in the world that do things much better than we do, and healthcare is one of them.  The best book I've read on this subject is "The Healing of America" by T.R. Reid.  It was a great look into some of the systems in other countries, and it weighs all of their pros and cons.  I sometimes think that if everyone in Congress were just forced to read this book, maybe things could change, but I know better than to hope for that.

So I guess I have mixed feelings today.  I'm happy for the gains we've made, meager as they are, but still impatient for the changes we really need that can't come soon enough for real people dealing with real illness.

Activism Burnout

As you may have noticed by my general lack of posts lately, I've been suffering from some "activism burnout" lately.  This happens to me at least once every year or two. 

You can only care for so long before you start to think, "Well, if the rest of the country doesn't care about their future, why the hell should I?  If the rest of the women my age don't give a shit about their right to abortion, why is it my job to help them maintain that right?  If no one else cares about the growing wage gap in this country, why should it be my problem?  If other people think gay marriage is somehow going to ruin their life, why do I have to educate them?  If everyone else is content to just watch all their rights slowly slip away because politics isn't 'interesting' enough to keep up with, then why the hell should I care so much?"

Seriously, sometimes I feel like the fate of the world seems to fall on the maybe twenty percent of us who are paying any attention at all and actually dare to ever say anything about it.  I'll probably never need an abortion, I'll never be the victim of racism, I'm not poor, I'll never have to worry about my marital status being questioned, I don't need to worry about feeding my kids, and I live a generally comfortable life.  So why should I care about ensuring that anyone else lives a decent life?

Oh ya, because I have a conscience and compassion.  I know that being an atheist means I'm supposed to just live for myself and have no moral compass according to the fundies out there, but I really do care, and it's exhausting.  Sometimes I just want to take a nap and pretend like the only things that matter are Kim Kardashian and who's winning on American Idol.

I'll snap out of it eventually; I always do.  It just might take another month or so.  I'll let you know when my nap is over.