Maybe we ought to revise the words of the Scripture to read: "I was sick but you are poor...or an immigrant...or don't have a job...or cannot vote...so I cannot help you." Is the American Bible only for the well-heeled and the screamers? I am holding my breath and hoping we pass this Health Care Bill. How many Presidents have struggled with this issue? Roosevelt...Truman...Nixon...Clinton...and now, courageously--President Obama. It took guts--real guts to take on this broken health care plan. The Conservative Republicans in the House and the Senate oppose this bill. They talk about "their plan"--but until the President placed this on the country's agenda--there was nary a word from them. And they oppose what now is the crying need of our time. And--the Liberal Democrats have decided that this weak bill should never pass because it is too tame and timid and does little or nothing to help the cause. They want a perfect bill--and this is totally unrealistic.
We have to begin somewhere. And this bill is the beginning of saying loud and clear that health care is a right and not an option. This morning I hear that Dennis Kuchinich will be voting for the passage of this bill. The best thing I have read lately on Health Care comes from Truthdig. Read today's article about Health Care: "Americans Who Can't Wait."
The poet-prophet Wendell Berry says it best in his new book, Leavings.
"I know that I have life
only insofar as I have love.
I have no love
Except it comes from Thee.
Help me, please, to carry
this candle against the wind."
Yea for all those nuns who are encouraging their representatives in congress to vote for the health care bill, pointing out that no tax payer dollars are going to support abortions!
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase Wendell Berry's words: Help us to protect this candle against the wind.