Health Care

There was a little girl whose parents could not always afford food. At night she had a hard time sleeping because she was hungry. Often she got out of bed and waked her mom in the middle of the night to say she was hungry. Her mom would get up, fix her a big glass of tap water with a little sugar stirred in and tell her if she drank it when she woke up in the morning she wouldn't be hungry. Hunger was their family secret. "If you tell anyone," her parents warned, "you will be taken from us and have to go live with strangers." It wasn't all the time that the month lasted longer than the food but to a child that experience lasts a lifetime. How do I know about this little girl and her horrible family secret?



I face her in the mirror every morning. Yes, the little girl was me and with the exception of this blog I've kept the secret.



Some may be surprised at how many people mask a lot of things. I'm talking about being judgemental about those that need health care. I'll bet people walk around sick and in pain and pretend that everything is fine because they are embarrassed that they have no insurance. Not being able to afford going to the doctor is no more a character flaw then not being able to afford to buy food. Greed and mistrust has eroded our humanity, stripped us of compassion. People that are suspicious of others taking advantage of the system most likely are guilty of doing so themselves.