Saturday March 19, 2010...Fear and hate

I received the following note from a fellow classmate that I haven't seen in many years. He had been following some of my statements on Facebook or some other blog and apparently disagreed.

“You are at the opposite side of the political spectrum as I am. I am deleting you and the entire Paseo links. Thank God I had sense enough to ignore the reunion.
The Corruptocrats forced me into the Medicare program, now they want to reduce it to the point that my health care will be jeopardized. Damn everyone of them. “

What we don't understand, we fear. And what we fear, we often hate.

Ignorance and intolerance seem to go hand in hand. It isn't that some of us aren't intelligent, it's just that we fear change and often won't take the time to learn about new ways. I remember many of my friends saying that they would never own a computer! There was no reason for any ordinary person to need a computer!

Life changes and you need to adapt. Often we fear the changes and assume that somehow we will be left behind or lose what we have with the changes. We assume that it's us against the world and that everyone is out to take advantage of you. Sometimes it's true, but not always.

Right now it's pretty obvious that the present healthcare situation in the United States needs some changes made to help all of our citizens and provide for our general welfare (per our Constitution). The system or lack thereof we currently have is way too costly and leaves too many people without healthcare. We need to fix that. People don't have to join the Medicare program – they can take care of their own health if they want, but the majority of retirees want the Medicare system – it works for them. Now the congress is considering a Medicare system for all of the people and many people are afraid of the change, but I believe most will welcome the changes after they understand. We are one of the last major countries to initiate a national healthcare system and it's really a shame that we put it off for so long.

It's obvious that many companies who profit mightily from the current status quo don't want anything to change, but they don't represent all of us – they don't answer to all of us – they really don't care that much about all of us – they are in the business of making money. You need to understand that making money isn't all bad, but in this case it isn't good for our country's health.

This is the first time in a century that our representatives have had the gumption to stand up to the special interests and the big contributors and try to pass legislation for the good of the people. It's a good first step. I'm sure there will be corrections needed and adjustments will have to take place, but that is the nature of life. We need to adapt to changes and learn from mistakes and learn to fear less and hate less.