My Blog
i read some good words today
this was published on wednesday, september 2, 2009under the title of -Why Is Universal Health Care ‘Un-American’?-
by Rev. Jim Rigby
Last week supporters of health-care reform gathered around the country, including in Austin, TX, where 2,000 people crowded into a downtown church to hear speakers talk about different aspects of the issue. Asked to speak about the ethical dimensions of health care, I tried to go beyond short-term political strategizing and ask more basic questions. This is an edited version of what I said:
Is anyone else here having trouble with the fact that we are even having this conversation?
Is anyone else having trouble believing this topic is really controversial?
I have been asked to talk about the ethical dimension of health care. Here's one way to frame such a discussion:
If an infant is born to poor parents, would we be more ethical to give medicine to that child so he or she does not die prematurely of preventable diseases, or would we be more ethical if we let the child die screaming in his or her parent's arms so we can keep more of our money?
Or, let's say someone who worked for Enron, and now is penniless, contracted bone cancer. I've been asked to discuss whether we are more ethical if we provide such people medicine that lessens their pain. Or would we be more ethical to let them scream through the night in unbearable agony so we can pay lower taxes?
I can't believe I am standing today in a Christian church defending the proposition that we should lessen the suffering of those who cannot afford health care in an economic system that often treats the poor as prey for the rich.
I cannot believe there are Christians around this nation who are shouting that message down and waving guns in the air because they don't want to hear it.
But I learned along time ago that churches are strange places; charity is fine, but speaking of justice is heresy in many churches.
The late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well:
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."
Too often today in the United States, if you talk about helping the poor, they call you Christian, but if you actually try to do something to help the poor, they call you a socialist.
Some of the other speakers today have been asked to address what is possible in the current political climate.
I have been asked to speak of our dreams.
Let me ask a question.
How many of you get really excited about tweaking the insurance system so we just get robbed a little less?
(silence)
How many of you want universal health care?
(sustained applause)
I realize that insurance reform is all that's on the table right now, and it can be important to choose the lesser of evils when that alone is within our power in the moment. But we also need to remember our dream.
I believe the American dream is not about material success, not about being having the strongest military.
The American dream is that every person might have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It's amazing to hear Christians who talk about the right to life as though it ends at birth.
They believe every egg has a right to hatch, but as soon as you're born, it's dog eat dog. We may disagree on when life begins, but if the right to life means anything it means that every person (anyone who has finished the gestation period) has a right to life.
And if there is a right to life there must be a right to the necessities of life.
Like health care.
I believe the American dream was not about property rights, but human rights.
Consider the words of this national hymn:
"O beautiful for patriot's dream that sees beyond the years. Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears."
Doesn't that sound like someone cared about the poor?
There are those who consider paying taxes an affront, but listen to these words:
"O Beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life."
"Mercy more than life" -- have you ever noticed those words before?
Supporting universal health care does not make you socialist or even a liberal, it makes you a human being. And it makes you an ambassador for the American dream which, in the mind of Thomas Paine, was a dream for every human being, not just Americans.
As we struggle to get health care to all people, we may have to settle for the lesser of two evils, but remember your dream -- the true American dream, a human dream. Whatever we win through reform is just first step toward a day when every human being has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Rev. Jim Rigby is pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin. He can be reached at jrigby0000@aol.com.
just an update... its... important
back on oct 13, 2008 i posted the blog:‘ i’m sad today :( ‘
it was about the hundreds of signs that appeared overnight in people’s front yards endorsing the prop 8… a sign carefully crafted to look pleasant, but actually endorsing hate…
…they were literally everywhere…
i did not mention what happened in the next few days… i didn’t feel it was important till now, and i didn’t want to embarrass anybody…
…it appears these signs were not put up by any of these families or my neighbors…
the church had handed out fistfuls of these ‘yes’ and ‘smiling family dancing’ signs to people, and just told them to put them up in their neighbors yards…
they did not even explain what the signs were for
when people woke the next morning to find the signs in their yards they either took them down, or just stuck them into their neighbors yard (whom also had a sign posted)…
…this continued for a few days until the signs all but disappeared…
after a week, the only signs to be found were on just one house and on one church yard in my neighborhood …they were literally hundreds of these signs in their yards…
…so at first it looked like everyone wanted this prop 8…
but no… it was only one church and one house in my neighborhood
so then Election Day rolls around, and guess where the polling is taking place? in the church covered with ‘ yes on 8 signs ‘
i called the election board the morning of the election to mention that this polling place was covered with endorsement signs…
they told me that many people had already called, and they were just so busy going all over the Los Angeles area taking these signs down from the polling places…
they were not pressing charges because it was just a church’s 'misunderstanding' about the laws governing such things
the signs i called about were eventually taken down…
...from about 4:30pm to 6:00pm - after most of my district had already voted…
when asked about it after the voting process, lots of people mentioned they had voted for 8 without ever knowing what it was about… these people were upset that their church had mislead and even lied to them, just to get the vote.
people started leaving these church congregations soon afterwards…
this church has broken many of its own beliefs just to propagate hate, and pushed its congregations to improperly follow suit… it broke many laws
i’m mentioning it now because '8' is now up for review, and the church is still yelling and lying about this removing of people’s rights…
if you read this and are a little confused by what your religion tells you is right,
… just think…
What Would Jesus Do…
i love to walk the fringes of our reality
sometimes i just like to sit, and try to absorb all the things that are going on around me...to feel the sun, the wind the rain on my skin... to feel the pull of gravity, to listen to the ground, to feel vibrations...
to look for reflections, and watch the things that tend to stay and dance at the edges of my vision
to hear the trees whisper to each other... to watch the beautiful color of the changing leaves, and smell the grass and the good earth...
other times i walk the paths and become aware of the past, and of this very moment... and of ... others
i meet friends and spirits and the elemts and the unknown, and i find myself on many adventures...
but sometimes it is lonely to walk the forgotten paths, and it is not as good to witness these things alone... sometimes i miss having friends along with me
NO ON 8 ...the candidates DO NOT support it
the candidates listed DO NOT support the yes on 8 initiative... Barak Obama has come out against thisthese 'yes' ads are lying and deceptive AND offensive...
...it’s really really wrong to advertise like this...
i thought you should know, and maybe let the tribe officials know as well... :)
www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...tory.aspx
i'm sad today :(
there are a lot of signs out it in family’s yards today...that are for changing the constitution to PREVENT marriage for gay people...
to remove rights from people is wrong :(
...to deny people from trying to be families...
i would never do that to you :(
this tells it all...
at what cost
the world is a mushroom
how we fall for it…the world is a mushroom…
…it’s sad, but we all fall for this kind of manipulation…
it’s just a slogan.
somebody say’s the world is a mushroom, and it’s obviously not… that’s silly,
but they repeat it, and our minds try to make sense of it…
‘hhhmmmm how is the world like a mushroom… how do i perceive its mushroomyness? already we are fitting it into our heads and into our manner of speaking… we take the statement as fact because “why would they lie about something like that? everyone is talking about it so it must have some value.”
and if it is written down, it must be so…
even those speaking out against the concept of the ‘mushroom world’ are falling for this manipulation by being lead down this uncertain path… and anything they might say justifies the point that ‘the world is a mushroom’ has value…
person a: ‘the world is a mushroom’
person b: “no it isn’t”
person a: ‘prove it!’
person b: “well it isn’t as easy to…”
person a: ‘ah ha! you don’t have any hard evidence to the contrary… so it must be mushroomy! ’
person b: “ why would you believe such a thing?”
person a: ‘if it’s not a mushroom (as you say) then what is it?’
now person b is stuck with either trying to explain the whole of the world, in simple terms… or with making another slogan like ‘its more like a potato’
person a: you just don’t know, do you?
do not let the mushroomie folke pull you away from what is real, from what is important… don’t let it cloud your judgment… but this is a very hard thing to do,
…don’t let others do your thinking for you…
but you’re probably thinking ‘the world is a mushroom’ thoughts right now… sigh…
: )
obama
see:www.youtube.com/watch
or
crackle.com/c/Shorts/Fre...rson_/1468040
this last link was removed and replaced... as were many links to this 1971 video :(
love
be the good that you see in others... weather real or imagined...do not be the worst that you see in others... weather real or imagined...
