I swear I didn’t plan it this way.
But there they were on Sunday, printed large in the regular bulletin, the appointed Lectionary reading for the day as determined by some far off committee of academics and wiser people than I, the words of Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus:
“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another …” (Ephesians 4:31, NRSV)
Did they have cable news in Paul’s day, too?
Where has decency gone in America? When did we determine that shouting louder than anyone else would advance solutions to our problems? When did we decide that the swastika, a symbol of horrors that are still frighteningly memorable to living people on this planet, was acceptable for polite people to use in any context or for any purpose? Is that the only visual aid available? And forgive my disrespect, but for a former vice-presidential candidate to even imply, let alone state outright, that our government would desire to kill her child because of his disability, is so simply beyond believability as to be more than a just spin or falsehood – it is a slanderous lie designed for a grave purpose. What that purpose is, I cannot imagine.
I pray that someone might help me understand what drives the noise.
Perhaps you will say that many people feel distrustful. I can understand this. I can understand that people do not wish to lose control over their health care, their choice of doctor, their ability to make decisions about medicines and procedures and hospital stays. I can understand that they are fearful that this intervention will destroy what is perceived to be the best health care system in the world. I could understand this, if it were so.
I wonder who really gets to choose their own doctors. I do not, at least not past a small list approved by the PPO that my insurance company has assigned to me.
I participate in my health care decisions, I research and test what my doctor tells me, but mostly I do what I’m told. I choose between the couple of options present to me, if there is more than one. I’ve never advised my doctor on what to do, what diagnosis to make, what medicine to prescribe. Have you?
But there they were on Sunday, printed large in the regular bulletin, the appointed Lectionary reading for the day as determined by some far off committee of academics and wiser people than I, the words of Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus:
“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another …” (Ephesians 4:31, NRSV)
Did they have cable news in Paul’s day, too?
Where has decency gone in America? When did we determine that shouting louder than anyone else would advance solutions to our problems? When did we decide that the swastika, a symbol of horrors that are still frighteningly memorable to living people on this planet, was acceptable for polite people to use in any context or for any purpose? Is that the only visual aid available? And forgive my disrespect, but for a former vice-presidential candidate to even imply, let alone state outright, that our government would desire to kill her child because of his disability, is so simply beyond believability as to be more than a just spin or falsehood – it is a slanderous lie designed for a grave purpose. What that purpose is, I cannot imagine.
I pray that someone might help me understand what drives the noise.
Perhaps you will say that many people feel distrustful. I can understand this. I can understand that people do not wish to lose control over their health care, their choice of doctor, their ability to make decisions about medicines and procedures and hospital stays. I can understand that they are fearful that this intervention will destroy what is perceived to be the best health care system in the world. I could understand this, if it were so.
I wonder who really gets to choose their own doctors. I do not, at least not past a small list approved by the PPO that my insurance company has assigned to me.
I participate in my health care decisions, I research and test what my doctor tells me, but mostly I do what I’m told. I choose between the couple of options present to me, if there is more than one. I’ve never advised my doctor on what to do, what diagnosis to make, what medicine to prescribe. Have you?
I know patients who were dismissed from a hospital before they were ready, not because they wanted to go home, but because their insurance plan would not allow a longer stay. I know some who ended up back in the hospital again, and so do you.
And because there seems to be a failure to report the truth among either media or politicians, let us debunk this one other well kept myth. We do not have the best health care in the world. According to the World Health Organization, which did not vote in the last election, we rank 37th. According to the real outcomes that matter, like life expectancy, 36 other nations have better health care than the United States. Nations from every corner of the globe, not all of which should do better than us. Maybe they spend more time and energy figuring out how to care for one another and less time and energy screaming on the 6:00 news.
Do we fear rationing of our health care? I expect that the 45 million people who are rationed right out of the health care system in America because they can’t afford health insurance could tell us what a real nightmare that can be. Now, that’s something to raise our voices about. That’s an injustice. That’s a corruption worthy of an increase in our collective blood pressure.
Except that doesn’t seem to be what all the screaming is about.
Angry children yell and scream at each other because they lack the mental and social capacity to resolve their conflict. They are helpless, and so they exercise their frustration in whatever level of violence is readily available. Friends, are we really merely angry children?
Last week, for the first time, I deleted a friend from Facebook. I admit to feelings of pride as the number of my friends on Facebook had climbed into high atmospheres. It felt good. But I found myself saddened and hurt and disappointed by the constant tirades and rants and name-calling that substituted for worthy discourse. I determined to let go, and take Paul’s advice, that instead of allowing the sun to “go down on my anger,” I would shut it off and lead a different life:
“… be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 4:32-5:2, NRSV)
Like Paul, I should hope and pray that we might.
And because there seems to be a failure to report the truth among either media or politicians, let us debunk this one other well kept myth. We do not have the best health care in the world. According to the World Health Organization, which did not vote in the last election, we rank 37th. According to the real outcomes that matter, like life expectancy, 36 other nations have better health care than the United States. Nations from every corner of the globe, not all of which should do better than us. Maybe they spend more time and energy figuring out how to care for one another and less time and energy screaming on the 6:00 news.
Do we fear rationing of our health care? I expect that the 45 million people who are rationed right out of the health care system in America because they can’t afford health insurance could tell us what a real nightmare that can be. Now, that’s something to raise our voices about. That’s an injustice. That’s a corruption worthy of an increase in our collective blood pressure.
Except that doesn’t seem to be what all the screaming is about.
Angry children yell and scream at each other because they lack the mental and social capacity to resolve their conflict. They are helpless, and so they exercise their frustration in whatever level of violence is readily available. Friends, are we really merely angry children?
Last week, for the first time, I deleted a friend from Facebook. I admit to feelings of pride as the number of my friends on Facebook had climbed into high atmospheres. It felt good. But I found myself saddened and hurt and disappointed by the constant tirades and rants and name-calling that substituted for worthy discourse. I determined to let go, and take Paul’s advice, that instead of allowing the sun to “go down on my anger,” I would shut it off and lead a different life:
“… be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 4:32-5:2, NRSV)
Like Paul, I should hope and pray that we might.
