Matthew 11:28–30 NRSV
"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Find Rest for Your Souls – “I only want to heal.....”-
“I only want to heal…,” the person said tearfully to me. Hearing those words, concern surged heavily for the person because GOP Senators -- led by Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, devised a healthcare bill in secrecy and with lobbyists that will leave tens of millions of US citizens without insurance. What this means is that McConnellcare/Trumpcare/Ryancare requires one US citizen in every 830 uninsured US citizens (mostly the working poor) to step forward and die per findings reported in LA Times article titled, “How many people will die from the Republicans' Obamacare repeal bills? Tens of thousands per year.” Long and short of it by 2026, McConnellcare/Trumpcare/Ryancare could mean demanding that 92,000 to 96,000 citizens, again mostly our working poor, to step forward and die so that you and I have the privilege of transferring wealth -- nearly $1 trillion dollars -- to the richest people in the United States, and so a few other citizens have the privilege of not paying for any pieces of health insurance they don't want.
“I only want to heal ….” – are words that mean nothing to 40% of this country who voted POTUS 45 into office. Many of them are followers of Jesus and a considerable number think 45 is Jesus returned. They love 45’s unrelenting pressure tactics to repeal Affordable Care Act (ACA). They aren’t the least interested in fixing ACA. They, like 45, are not interested in who is harmed and who can’t heal if ACA is repealed. I don’t understand who their Jesus is because their Jesus bears no resemblance to the Jesus who freely healed – the Jesus to whom I was introduced as a child and in whom I subsequently came to believe.
“I only want to heal…..” – is a not a right but rather a privilege under McConnellcare/Trumpcare/Ryancare. They fail to see Single Payer Universal Healthcare as essential to our infrastructure as Defense is or as our Interstate Highway and bridges are. Supporters of Trumpcare/Ryancare/McConnellcare have the audacity to say they shouldn’t have to participate in healthcare costs that affect all of us. Well, how about if I and untold other millions of citizens say that we shouldn’t have to pay taxes for the brand new $13 billion dollar Gerald Ford Super Carrier and more such aircraft carriers currently under construction. We already have ten more aircraft carrier groups than any other nation on the planet, why can’t I opt out of those aircraft carriers I’m not interested in or opt out of the parts of that I have no interest in.
“I only want to heal…” is so plaintively a tug at the heart of anyone with capacity to feel another person’s pain that we must not stand idly by. Like all other developed nations of the world, it is time for Single Payer Universal Healthcare in the USA. Take the profit motive out of healthcare and big pharma and watch the tax payer’s cost instantly go down by half. While we're at it, let's send Health Secretary Price back home where he belongs -- hopefully rehabilitating his moral and ethical priorities toward being able to support for Single Payer Universal Healthcare.
“I only want to heal….” - is a Mental Health Recovery journey advocated by the US Department of Health (SAMHSA) that existed long before Secretary Price ever entered Washington DC politics to promote Trumpcare/Ryancare/McConnellcare. Mental Health Recovery’s Ten Guiding Principles (2006) will be there long after Secretary Price leaves the scene – precisely because the “Guiding Principles” are enduring and Price's moral and ethical principles are disasterously short-sighted and will contribute to one US Citizen dying for every 830 uninsured US citizens. Such principles are not consistent with the Christ whom I know who bids us that heavy laden should come and receive rest for Christ's yoke is easy and his burden light -- especially when we all share the yoke and burden of Single Payer Universal Healthcare.
“I only want to heal….” – is a statement that took a person with severe and chronic PTSD profound courage to say. It took a year and a half through psychotherapy to build trust and feel safety for voicing this healing need of a traumatized human mind. Thankfully the emotional healing that took place to this point happened because of the Medicaid Expansion. Now it gets hammered down by a POTUS who selfishly tweets violent videos at the press --- violence like that which the person in this post suffered for years at the hands of others. Well done 45, very well done. There will come a time when you stand before God and will account for your self-absorbed life and the darkness you harbor in your soul. If I thought it would do you any good, I would gladly offer you psychotherapy -- but it’s pretty clear there is no room for the yoke of Christ in your life. I once told you that if you were to redeem yourself, it would require that you exercise toward all other human beings the exact same generosity you extend to loved ones you hold dearest – the exception being that you do so without expectations of anything in return – just as the Christian hymn goes, “Freely, freely, you have received, freely freely give…”
“I only want to heal…” – means that you, POTUS 45, must finally awake out of you stupor of self-absorbed living and look around you at all who are weary, heavy burdened, living in tears from pain and suffering, fearful that medical costs will bankrupt their lives -- and that you give them rest through Single Payer Universal Healthcare. Right now, the weary and heavy burdened is the life of every citizen in this country who Trumpcare/McConnellcare/Ryancare would throw way, expect to die, or be rendered bankrupt or vulnerable to financial crisis by out of control healthcare costs. As recently stated by the World’s third richest man, Warren Buffet, only Single Payer Universal Healthcare gets the USA and its citizens out of our current morass.
Brad Shumate
Free of Encumbrance
Eugene, Oregon
USA
No comments:
Post a Comment