Thanks to the many “social media” of 2013, CNN was able to
locate the good samaritan and arranged to fly her to Boston for a very
emotional reunion! Certainly one of the
advantages of such mass media is the possibility of enabling us to function as
a larger community. A “stranger” in
Boston is located in California – and is a woman whose spontaneous reaction
after the bombing was to “be come a friend” to one in need.
Towards the close of the CNN segment it was revealed that
there was to be a fund-raiser” for the Boston woman’s medical expenses! She had lost her lower left leg; had her
right leg severely broken; and was now needing extensive rehab – and she
needed a fund-raiser to cover her medical expenses!
Really? In 2013?
Is there any other nation in the civilized [?} industrial
world that would place the burden for medical payment on a victim of an act of
terrorism?
Really? In 2013?
Free health care ought to be the norm for us. Not just
because it is more in line with the teachings of Jesus. Not because it is more
in line with the practice of early Judaism. Not because it is more in line with
the teachings of Muhammad.
Free health care ought to be the norm for us because it is
the right thing to do. It is the
economically smart thing to do.
Ever since we accepted insurance for medical payment we have
accepted an “other” between us and our physician or other care provider. In
these past 50+ years the powers of those “others” have grown almost absolute in
their controls over doctors, nurses and other care providers. And we can’t “elect”
them!
Really? In 2013?
It is time for all of us to initiate the needed
conversations so that “affordable” health care is freely available.
Then we might move even closer to being “one community” with
liberty and justice for all.
