Hello Fellow Kossaks! Admittedly, I usually stay in the background around here and just read what you all have written, but something has been floating around in my head for a few days now and I wanted to share it. I’ve observed the President’s actions and the liberal activists’ reactions carefully this past year, and especially during this very long healthcare reform battle, and I have some thoughts about them.
If you’ll allow, I am going to use some experience in my own life as a reference point for this diary. Three years ago, my life was broken in every conceivable way. I got a divorce after 6.5 years of marriage, I had gained 65 pounds, I had developed an atrocious habit of eating fast food regularly and never exercising, I was flat broke, I was suffering from situational depression and had no "give-a-damn" available to draw on to get anything happening in my business, I was on the verge of some serious health problems brought on by the effects of my drastic weight gain (my blood pressure was out of control and my resting heart rate was at least two to two and a half times faster than it should be), and I felt no connection to other life on the planet or the spirit that lies within myself because no organized religion speaks to me. I was in trouble and needed desperately to make some changes.
I recognized that I was in an unsustainable pattern in all areas of my life...happiness, health, wealth, & spirituality. However, I had the most difficult time doing anything about it. I started a number of times to make some very broad sweeping changes to my life. All at once, at least 4 times in the first two years, I decided to switch completely to organic food, exercise at the gym for 2 hours per day, join dating services, and start an aggressive prospecting/customer follow-up campaign in my real estate business. You know what happened? I fell off the wagon within a few weeks every time and the goals of becoming healthy, making more money, finding a loving partner, and expressing my spirituality were not anywhere close to met. In fact, I moved backward each time I fell off the wagon. How can it be that I could be in such bad condition, recognize that I’m in that bad condition, know exactly the changes I wanted to make, and still not do it??? Well, in the third year I learned the answer to that question. There is pain in change....there is pain in staying the same too, but there is a special kind of pain in change. The status quo, for all its demons, problems, and disappointments always has one HUGE advantage to change....we’ve been there and know how to live with it. It will ALWAYS be easier to stay the same than to go somewhere new, and that’s why change happens so incrementally.
I finally reached a tipping point about a year ago and realized that I simply could not stand to live the way I had been living anymore, but also realized that trying to fix everything wrong in my life simultaneously, comprehensively, and quickly was not working....that too, was unsustainable. New habits needed to be formed, old ways of thinking and limiting beliefs had to be let go of, and small progress had to snowball for me to get to where I wanted to go. So, I formed a new action plan: Move an inch forward in every area that I can and allow that to be the new status quo...then move another inch. I started by making a few commitments 100%, and letting myself off the hook for other things until I was ready to take them on. For example, I said, "No more fast food, period....no excuses, no exceptions." Have I eaten perfect food ever since that time...no...but I have kept that commitment, and that shaved off 15 pounds. I made similar commitments in other areas that were sustainable...but I didn’t try to fix everything at once, so that I would have the energy available to enforce my new commitments 100% for long enough that they became the new "normal". At that point I would make a new commitment. I won’t bore you with every detail of what I’ve done, but 13 months after deciding to make these changes in my plan of attack, I’m proud to report the following results:
- I have lost 30 pounds of fat and toxicity, and the lifestyle that gained it in the first place has been replaced by a new "normal" that will prevent it from coming back...rather than a temporary departure for a few months to get "fast results" that inevitably will ware off and allow the weight to return.
- I met a wonderful woman that I’ve had ups and downs with, but with an honest commitment to communicate with each other, understand each other, and to both be willing to work on and in the relationship, we are moving in together next month and I’ve never been happier.
- I saw a 30% increase in my sales from the previous year in my real estate practice, and my relationships with my clients are stronger, more trusting, and more genuine than ever.
- My blood pressure is normal, my resting heart rate is normal, and my depression is completely gone.
- I’ve created organically my own daily spiritual practice that helps me stay centered, patient, calm, rational, and loving toward other human beings....and it is totally based in my own values and beliefs rather than somebody else telling me what to think.
I don’t tell you any of that to brag...it is simply to make a point: You make progress in the margins. You find one obvious problem and make a 100% commitment to eradicating it. When it is fixed and the solution is the new norm, you go after the next problem. It can be frustrating because the results you want don’t come as quickly as you want. I’m still not where I want to be...but I’ve made tremendous progress in a year’s time because I was willing to move forward in inches. Over time the inches add up to feet, and then to yards, and then to miles. But if you aren’t ready to move a mile, trying to do so will actually move you back 2 miles a lot of the time.
I believe governing is much the same way. We all get so frustrated because when the republicans are in power they seem to be able to accomplish so much for their agenda and move so far "to the right", and then when we get a chance we only seem to move in baby steps. I would only say this. We aren’t moving to the left and they aren’t moving to the right. We are moving forward, and they are moving backward. It simply is not apples to apples to compare how far they can get with their agenda to how far we can get. It will ALWAYS be easier to temporarily go back to a place we’ve already been than it will be to go somewhere we’ve never gone. That is the essence of who we are as progressives...forget democrats. If the Republicans were the more progressive party, that’s who we would be backing. In fact, a hundred years to a hundred and fifty years ago, that is who we would be backing. We want progress. Today’s Republican Party represents the past at worst and the status quo at best. As frustrating as it is for us, the Senate is designed to slow progress down and we end up with a lot of anti-progress Democrats too. But in spite of that, we stand today with an opportunity to take a baby step forward on health care....I’m ecstatic. Not because this bill is my dream legislation...hell I want Medicare for all...but because I know that this is on the road toward that ultimate destination.
I believe our founders said it all and said it best when they challenged us in the preamble of our constitution, "To Form a More Perfect Union." They knew we would never be perfect. And think about it...when we do someday have Medicare for all, it won’t be perfect and we’ll have to continue to tweak and change it continually to fix unforeseen problems, and that process will NEVER be complete. But the founders also knew that if this nation were to survive, and more importantly thrive, we had to continuously pursue becoming "more perfect". This bill isn’t anywhere near perfect. But I honestly believe it is "more perfect" than what we have now, and I have no doubt that the process of improving it will take place immediately after its passage. It is much easier to improve existing law than to write a new law. We all know the good things this bill does, and we all know the many ways that it falls short of our hopes and expectations. However, I feel privileged to live in a time when such a contentious and important issue can be addressed and progress can be made, laying the foundation for many more baby steps that will add up over time to true and remarkable reform...just like Social Security, Civil Rights, and Medicare.
As I said, it will always be easier to return to some place we’ve been than to go somewhere we’ve never gone. It is easier stay in your chair and watch T.V. than to take your hour long walk no matter what, it is easier to give into temptation when you are going through rough times in your relationship than to honor your life partner with fidelity, it is easier to resent people for the bad things that they’ve done than to forgive them and move on, and it is easier to allow disappointment over not being able to move a mile to prevent you from moving an inch than it is to move that inch today and fight for another inch tomorrow. The Republicans will always have an easier time governing than we will....their objective is to keep us where we are or move us back to where we’ve been. We cannot allow that to stop us from moving forward, no matter how incremental and inconsequential it seems. The improvements in this bill will become the new "norm" and then the next set of problems will be addressed. So, I say to all those who are disgusted with this bill, "Thank You." I disagree with your desire to kill the bill and start over, but your contempt is a big part of why I know the next inch will be pursued in the ongoing journey to form a more perfect union. I consider this moment a victory for America...not because it is great reform...but because it reflects a willingness to change the status quo, even if just a little. If Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Franklin, and the others are watching us right now, I think they’re consensus would be, "We’re proud of our baby...look at what it’s become. Now go fight like hell to make it even better." I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and keep the lively debate going...there is NEVER a dull moment here on Kos!