Dear America,
greetings and good morning. now i would like to preface any crap that i spout with the idea that this is my opinion based on experience, i do not like to make decisions for others nor try to uproot systems of belief i totally believe we are each entitled to our opinions and we should each respect one anothers opinions without the overwhelming sense that ours is more right or our opinion should triumph but it would be nice if we were all able to be respected in this.
so there is alot of CRAP being spouted off at present in regards to healthcare reform and alot of it is unsubstantiated and ridiculous and is propiganda created to protect the big businesses of healthcare who dont really care about either your health nor saving lives or preventing illness they are insurance companies they are pharmeceutical companies and they definatly dont care about you, or me.
health care - or maybe more appropriate death preperation, in this country is like an exclusive club- maybe you have it but when you try to use it your membership level is only for say minor issues you can only get inot the lobby of the exclusive club you are a member to- when entering the lobby you find that to actually use anything you need to pay twice as much and until then you can carry your memeberhsip card and catch a glimpse as the door swishes open for a brief moment to see what all those fuckers who membered in at a higher level are doing.
just a glimpse, then theres the mid to upper range members and the higher the membership level is the less likely to need it they are as chances are they have all this shit already in their homes and only come here to pose and make glances with other fuckers who like to be seen.
then theres the fuckers outside who cant even get in the front gate - even if they pretended they were interested in joining those inside would know they didnt belong and a request to just use the toilet would be rejected.
i am getting confused and being confusing because thats what all this health reform cross talk has done thats whta they are trying to do confuse because once we get confused then we find it hard to make decisions and thats when people shy away from the confusion from the unknown.
well i will tell you one thing america if you dont like confusion you should get the hell out of this country because this is a real confusion for anyone to asess.
so health care in america.
why?
when i was 19 i dropped out of college and lost my acess to my parents insurance- as it goes. working odd jobs to fufill my desire to move to england well there was no way in hell i cared about at this point in life nor could have afforded health insurance.
i was happy to be leaving - growing up and learning information especially what is preached in regards to my country and well actually seeing the things that were going on- seeing the low income communities seeing what education could be like for the masses well this didnt seem to ring true with anything to do about us all being created equal.
it seemed more like a fairy tale where some got it good but alot got it bad the only thing was this fairy tale wasnt looking for a fair or just ending.
as i worked my minimum wage jobs in buffalo new york i didnt think twice about healthcare i was after all 19 and we are invincible at this age.
health care wasnt what was taking me to england it was a fantasy it was a place where history was made and where upon entering as an american girl there for a 6 month work visa well these people were going to take care of me.
really whats this you say not even a resident really yet and i was covered under the NHS (no not the america national horticultural society but the national health service) ?
yes no questions asked yes.
england was willing to sort out any issues i had - thankfully as there were some issues.
ten years later
still in england in the process of job hunting and at this point a permanant resident i became pregnant was when the NHS really save the day.
We had moved to the country and I was desperate to get back to london for thesocial support network of friends we moved back set up home outside of Blackheath in south east london and we were actually in one of the poorest london burroughs - the royal burrogh of greenwich home of the greenwich merridian home of the stomping grounds of Henry the eighth and elizabeth the first and home of the richness of the toursist inndustry countered with a whole lot of governement susidized housing - tower blocks council flats, estates the whole array of what people think of as not nice areas in america. now on a side note this is one of the things i love about england that to me there isnt the hood anywhere or ghettos but every burrough is mixed seems to keep it fair- so in the poshest of posh burroghs you will still find council flats or some variation of governement supported housing i think this is great.
ok so we move here the opposite of what most due when expecting (head to the country..)
and withen two weeks i had set up home and the day we registered with out GP (general practictioner - our new family doctor) i had no job - and my husband had no job either we were moving by the seat of our pants and hoping for the best when we got there.
i start having weird flutterings and after much confusion a trip to the hospital as i think i am having braxton hicks and nurse at GPs says this isnt right.
the hospital tells me i am fine go home no contractions..
3 am wake up on all fours grunting like a cross between a pig and a cow in the midst of a demon possession insist it's indeigestion but husband doesnt believe me....
my daughter was born that morning.
she was four pounds four ounces and was in the ICU for two days then steeped down to the not so intensive but still constant care- she came out breathing feet first (out of the correct hole and all) and from that moment she had the top care and pulled through like a trooper.
had we been in america well we would have probably become a statistic-
our child probably would have become a number on infant mortality charts and literature because poor premmies without health coverage in america dont tend to do so well.
not at all this is what contributes to our insanely high infant mortality numbers -
we are a civilized country ? yes?
hell no. one needs to look to the treatment of the country's poor to see how civilized one is- and from how we treat those struggling to get by is probably worse then alot of animals get treated.
my daughter probably wouldnt have made it here -
so when given the oppurtunity to become a British citizen i did-
i was proud to make the choice to become not only american by birth but english by choice.
two years ago i moved here -
i avoided most of the bush regime- thankfully- and now i see the desperation of people looking for more seeking for something communal that is good rather then the shared sorrow of so much hope lost over those eight years, i cam back to a brokedn country and to mend people sometimes you have to face things head on sometiems you must go with the feeling in your gut rather then in your head -
our heads get probbed and bullied by misinformation and fear and you - you americans have to want more? you have to say you tried something new because the something old isnt working -
we have to care about one another and we need to try and take care of everyone treat people how you want to be treated?
does no one actually beleive this?
and to the propigators of the lies of the fear mongering scare tactics - to you i say well you will get whats coming to you-
whether its in judgement from outside or the maybe the tineiest seed of doubt of knowing what you are doing saying is wroung and that you are actually hurting people by denying them what everyone should have - ability to take care of themselves well to you people that doubt will grow and someday it will hurt you-
from the inside and maybe you wont understand it-
but it will foster feelings you may not understand.
you may begin to be destroyed by a conscience you ignored for many years.
and people do you honestly believe america wants to form death panels?
if you ask me we already have death panels - everyone time an insurance coomapny tursn you down for a preexisting condition every time they say you have used up your allowence and can not have the treatment you need - those are death panels and they are already there and they are killing people now.
for all that hope we put into Obama we are not giving him alot of faith and i think both work hand in hand and i think you really need to believe less of what is shouted at you and more of what is whispered in the back of you mind in the underneths of society.
we all know how to not be cruel as individuals (well most)
so why as a society are we so cruel indeed?
america you and i go way back - i havent always loved you and the same is true in reverse but america if we fostered growth and this idea of equality in every way possible well we may have a society that isnt self destructing all while clinging to a concept of itself as better then everyone else- an ego so massive it makes us make out own country bigger then it is on maps and in minds we are all here and we are all a part of this - and we all need to release the fear and move more towards the compassion.
i love what this country has - so many variations so many differences -
and i would love to know that when times got hard and when things got bad at the end of the day my country loved me back enough to help take care of me at my weakest times- this is yet something of a dream -
approach the dream and release the fear.
thank you for reading.
love to all,
thendara xxx
