Abraham Lincoln once said, “Don’t leave anything for tomorrow that can be done today.” Last Wednesday, when President Obama addressed the nation, he seemed to be living by those words. He is driving the country to take action on our healthcare issues, and he is doing it with a sense of urgency.
American healthcare obviously has its problems. With some 46 million Americans who do not have health insurance, we are obligated to do something. What that “something” is, I have no clue. But I do know that no matter what our President’s healthcare plan looked like, at least some people were bound to disagree with it.
Therefore, we must move forward as a country regardless of our leaders’ policies. Crying does not pay, unless, afterwards, you dry your eyes and bust your behind to make this world a better place. For instance, say a mother and father are concerned about their child’s reading ability.
The mother suggests a private tutor to help the problem, but the father refuses because it is way too expensive. That is when the father should step up and say, “I will tutor him myself.” In other words, if he is not willing to pay for an outside party to fix the problem, then he better be willing to fix it himself.
The previous example resonates with our government’s policies, especially the new healthcare reforms. Like the boy’s tutoring bill was to the father, healthcare is detrimental to our nation’s budget, costing our nation about $2.2 trillion a year. Obama’s new healthcare bill would cost $600 billion, but it would also expand coverage to 97% of Americans. The lack of coverage for many Americans has been a big problem no one else has fixed, so Obama is finding a way to fix it. Sometimes you have to move backwards to move forwards, but you have to move somewhere. Change is not generated from idle hands. Although the health reform bill will require the nation to spend a good chunk of our tax dollars, it will improve the lives of many deserving people.
Something is wrong in our society even though it is not necessarily our fault. We already live in an unjust world because not every American who deserves healthcare can afford it. If everything was right in the world, the government would not have to interfere so much, and protesters outside the Target Center would not be holding up signs saying, “I had enough of Socialism in the USSR.”
However, the facts are clear; certain people need help. I would like to see that same protestor writing out a check to his unemployed neighbor to cover that neighbor’s health insurance bill. When people stop helping each other, the government has to start helping people.
If you are going to get all uptight about what Obama is doing in the Whitehouse, here is my advice to you: Stop taking it so hard, and start acting on your own political beliefs. Do things that, in your eyes, will make the world a better place to live. Get out and talk to less privileged people, and ask them what you can do to help.
My idea for this week’s column was spurred when I read about one protestor’s words in the newspaper. Outside the Target Center last Wednesday, someone had a sign that read, “Let me see your birth certificate.” I am outraged that some people are still hung up about whether or not Obama is a natural-born US citizen. These types of protests move our country nowhere.
I would much rather be working on homework or coaching sports in the community than picketing on the streets, but I have to admit, I know what my signs would say if I am ever protesting. They would exhibit phrases like, “Volunteer at a homeless shelter!” “Teach a child to read!” “Spend time with your family!” “Get to know your neighbors!” and, my personal favorite, “Find your own way to change the world, if you feel no one else is doing a good enough job!”