A Right Not A Privilege

Over the years I’ve often heard it asked as to one’s whereabouts when you heard that President Kennedy had been shot. I was as a skinny young kid watching the small and grainy black & white TV screen in our den in Levittown. In the days that followed I was moved by the sad cadence of the unfolding story as the country took in the gravity of that unalterable moment. And when Bobby Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles, I was also at home in the same den as the crushing news of the end to the candidacy and life of my first political hero was broadcast. It was the first presidential campaign I had ever worked on and I was at home awaiting the results of the Los Angeles primary and dreaming my young idealistic dreams. Those early voices that I’d heard for hope were gone.

And I will always remember where I was today when I learned that Ted Kennedy had died. Maybe it was because he succumbed to the same disease that had taken my Mother’s life and I empathized with his family for what I know was a long and difficult struggle watching their hero diminish. But more probably it’s because I’m mature enough now to truly understand the courage and work that it takes to make hope & dreams a reality and the historic crossroads we are at for affecting healthcare reform for the generations to come.

For decades, Ted Kennedy represented a clear and passionate voice for quality and affordable healthcare for every American. We are all living this same moment in a common place with the same challenges in front of us. We can decide now to remember this day as a time we altered our path to push for what we know to be a right and not a privilege in helping our fellow man. We can remember this moment as a time where new voices rose up to make a difference. Where new men and women assumed the mantels of the lions who had brought society so far.

I hope that I will always remember where I was when I got the inevitable news of Senator Kennedy’s death sitting with my small bowl of fruit in pajamas watching the morning news before rushing off into the dawns gleam. I hope I remember that I helped to make a difference for those less fortunate because I had been lucky in life and know in my heart that good healthcare is a right and not a privilege for all. Here, now and always.

Where were you?

The Truth Finds Us

Ezra Klein - Is the Government Going to Euthanize your Grandmother? An Interview With Sen. Johnny Isakson.

With the debate on healthcare reform gaining momentum this month, the personal stories of individuals and families either denied healthcare by their providers or without health insurance at all, are coming more into the public light. I’ve become a bit numb in my reaction to the stories having lived through my own medical maelstrom, but just scratching the surface a bit brings back the moments of panic that takes over your life when least expected. The issues around health, well-being, care and financial stability become the first and last thought of each day and the entire world is colored by the fluctuation in each arena.

That we as a generation and a society are at a turning point to help ourselves is not part of the debate. We all know it. We know it’s right to reform a system that is not functioning efficiently with the most important element of our lives; our health. (Our grandmothers and theirs before them knew that “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything”). We know it’s right to make healthcare available to every member of society, just as we make education, personal security and equal rights available.

As we watch the angry response to the inclusion of a measure that would have medicare pay for the consultation with a doctor of the patient's own choosing, in regards to end of life issues, it occurs to me that the need for the provision will be very clear to everyone when they find they are in that inevitable position themselves or with their parents, spouses or children. We all face the same challenges and no matter how strong or brave we are, we all need help.

The scenes being played out at the “town hall” meetings across the country demonstrate how much fear underlies all of healthcare. In the brief images I’ve seen, it’s reminiscent of the clips of the civil rights struggle in ending segregation in this country. The venom and fear mongering grows each day. As difficult as it is, our generation is confronting this fear and seeking the truth. It’s painful but liberating, and in the end, the truth finds us.