I do not want people dying
... as collateral damage as we bomb and seek out "terrorists"
... as troops die in wars of choice
... because we deny them health care, whether through recissions, or pre-existing conditions, or caps on treatment
I am pro-life: because I want health and life for ALL -
... Americans And undocumented aliens
... Republicans and Democrats and Greens and Socialists and independents and those not part of the political process
... males and females, old and young, straight and gay and bi and transgendered
I write this in the aftermath of watching the Special Comment by Keith Olbermann, with Rachel Maddow in the background.
I am not upset that Keith focused on the Houston Free Clinic which served perhaps 1,600 people and did not mention the Remote Area Medical event in the Staples Center that served 6,344 giving them services for free worth $2,822,508.00 (both figures courtesy of RAM) - I simply want the people to get the care, and if we can shame politicians by Free Clinics or by RAM events, it matters not which if it moves them to do the right thing
On July 21st, I posted A different perspective on the health care debate, written from the perspective of my first full day of volunteering at the RAM/MOM event at Wise Virginia. Since then I have written on health care more than a dozen times, including The real issues of national security, in which I started with words of FDR in 1941, which read
The third is freedom from want--which, translated into universal terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants--everywhere in the world.
My last words above the fold were This is the moral issue I wish to explore.
I do not know about tactics or strategy. I only know why this issue has risen above education in my concern. It is more immediate, and besides, children with rotting teeth or untreated asthma are not going to learn effectively.
I want for EVERYONE what I want for myself and those closest to me - sufficient health, in all its aspects, to be able to enjoy life, not merely to endure it.
I will continue to write about this issue. I will continue to volunteer. I will devote part of my thinking, my energy, what time is left me on earth, to helping to care for others, care that may still be needed even after "health care reform."
Why? Because I am pro-life.
I proudly claim that phrase - pro-life - and infuse it with the meaning about which I write here. I refuse to allow that powerful phrase pro-life to be demeaned and used in the narrow fashion to which some would limit it.
Because I am pro-life I oppose the punitive taking of human life in capital punishment.
BecauseI am pro-life I do not want see another human being as my enemy in a competition for scarce resources.
Because I am pro-life I think too often we resort to violence on behalf of supposed issues of national security and I do not want those deaths on my conscience
Because I am pro-life I want good health, decent housing and clothing, humane employemnt, nutrition and security for everyone.
Because I am pro-life I want to include all in the American Dream, and whatever dream that may be inclusive in other nations
Because I am pro-life anything less that complete and total access to affordable health care for all is unacceptable.
I AM PRO-LIFE! I claim that proudly.
I AM PRO-LIFE!
What about you?
Peace.