“It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
Switched on the news this morning to scenes from a shattered Mexico City as rescue crews work furiously and methodically to free survivors from under the rubble of a collapsed school.
Every so often, the reporter explains, they pause in their work to raise fists in the air, a signal for silence: you could hear a 'pin drop,’ she says as everyone pauses to listen for sounds of life.
As I turn off the tv, Breaking News scrolls across the bottom of the screen, announcing that the US would be sending members of USA-2, an “ elite disaster response team ... trained to conduct around-the-clock search and rescue operations for both domestic and international disasters.”
We’ve seen such acts of selflessness and heroism over past few weeks as make-shift armies of professionals and volunteers have united to help people they don’t know and will probably never see again. (In Mexico City, the Red Cross is now turning away volunteers!)
How can it be that people from all walks of life instinctively rally when lives are in jeopardy during a natural disaster while here in the US, Republican lawmakers work at a frenzied pitch to push through the Graham-Cassidy bill? Little concern that this legislation would have disastrous impacts for some twenty million.
There is such innate good in human beings.
And then there is @RealDonaldTrump declaring “Senator (Doctor) Bill Cassidy is a class act who really cares about people and their Health(care), he doesn't lie-just wants to help people!” as his administration announces it has resumed enforcing immigration laws which target 600,000 undocumented workers live in the greater Houston Metropolitan area.
Haven’t they experienced enough trauma?
"The Trump administration is still totaling up what's going on in Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico," Ryan told a group of aid workers, after surveying the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey last month across the Houston area.
"We're waiting for an estimate from the Trump administration on what's needed in Congress, and we'll act on that request, I anticipate, sometime in October," Ryan said. Link
October? Our leaders can wait until October to expand woefully inadequate funding for victims of Harvey and Irma while they rally to push through legislation which, in its current iteration, will shave $80M in federal funding for health care.
Are we members of the same species?
What happens to these people?
Do we really breathe the same air?
I switched on the news again a few minutes ago. The same reporter is at the scene. They are moving in lights so the crews can continue searching through the night. But while earlier today “fists in the air’ moments were frequent, now not so much.
We can’t let that happen with the latest attempt to repeal the ACA.
We need all fists in the air for this national disaster.
Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121
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