I am entering the security at Chicago's O'Hare airport, and they find a small toothpaste that was in the bottom of my bag, not in a plastic bag (they use the word "zip lock", but I refuse to, on the basis that this is a brand name, and I want there to be parity in the plastic bag market)
"Uh, do you all have a plastic bag I could use?"
"No, we do not carry bags anymore."
"So, we can fight a war for oil....uh, I mean freedom...but cannot afford plastic bags?"
Silence.
Maybe I was upset that I was missing the large peace demonstration in Chicago, or maybe I was simply taking out my frustration over the impending police state in which we live.
Either way, it would make an interesting ballot question on election day.
"Would you rather
(1) have your taxes go to sending the young men of this country to go kill young men, women, and children of another country, in order to secure the ever-expanding empires of the oil tycoons. or
(2) have your taxes go to providing plastic bags at the scurity lines of the airport, in case you commit the ungodly sin of forgetting to put all liquids in a bag beforehand?
But don't hold your breathe looking for this one when you pull the curtain behind you and prepare to vote!
Monday, October 29, 2007
SCHIP: A sad comment on our leaders’ conscience and lack thereof
It is indeed a sad day when the profits of tobacco companies are deemed more important than the health of our nation’s children.
Overstated?
Not really.
Two weeks ago the President refused to okay a Congress-approved expansion of SCHIP, and in doing so, made a statement about the value he places on the health of our nation’s most vulnerable children. Unfortunately, when Congress was given the chance to correct his "slip of the pen," they also failed to muster the ethical resolve to vote "yes" for children's health.
Interesting, coming from leaders whose presidential/congressional families benefit from the finest socialized healthcare that money can buy, funded by our tax dollars.
Also interesting coming from a person like Bush who will fight to the end for fetus’ right to be born, yet will show crass indifference to these same children once they are born.
A Congressional office I spoke with was even more blatant, telling me that the tobacco interests in their district were simply too important for them to vote for SCHIP expansion. In fact, they told me "Whatever you may think of the tobacco companies, we deem them important constituencies." As a physician in training, I told them that I had no choice but to see the tobacco companies as producers of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), and that, no, I didn't see their point that tobacco profits should trump children's right to health.
You would think that maybe, just out of guilt that we are already sending our children to fight a pawns in a war for oil, that we would do the right thing when it comes to the children here at home.
My friends, please do not lose faith - yes, our leaders have failed millions of children on this one.
But no, they do not have the final word, not when it comes to the babies of our nation. If they won't put children first, then in the name of mighty Homeland Security, I call on us to secure a place for children's health in our states, in our coutnties, and in our commmunities.
It is indeed a sad day when the profits of tobacco companies are deemed more important than the health of our nation’s children.
Overstated?
Not really.
Two weeks ago the President refused to okay a Congress-approved expansion of SCHIP, and in doing so, made a statement about the value he places on the health of our nation’s most vulnerable children. Unfortunately, when Congress was given the chance to correct his "slip of the pen," they also failed to muster the ethical resolve to vote "yes" for children's health.
Interesting, coming from leaders whose presidential/congressional families benefit from the finest socialized healthcare that money can buy, funded by our tax dollars.
Also interesting coming from a person like Bush who will fight to the end for fetus’ right to be born, yet will show crass indifference to these same children once they are born.
A Congressional office I spoke with was even more blatant, telling me that the tobacco interests in their district were simply too important for them to vote for SCHIP expansion. In fact, they told me "Whatever you may think of the tobacco companies, we deem them important constituencies." As a physician in training, I told them that I had no choice but to see the tobacco companies as producers of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), and that, no, I didn't see their point that tobacco profits should trump children's right to health.
You would think that maybe, just out of guilt that we are already sending our children to fight a pawns in a war for oil, that we would do the right thing when it comes to the children here at home.
My friends, please do not lose faith - yes, our leaders have failed millions of children on this one.
But no, they do not have the final word, not when it comes to the babies of our nation. If they won't put children first, then in the name of mighty Homeland Security, I call on us to secure a place for children's health in our states, in our coutnties, and in our commmunities.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Oh lost sailor, we hail your "discovery"
A day to celebrate....
what?
That an Italian outcast, lost at sea, finally found a piece of land?
That after thousands of years of being inhabitated by "pre-historic" peoples, it now miraculously entered into being a bonafide, recognized part of the earth's land mass since a European's feet had touched its soil?
The inception of civilizing and christianizing the savages of the New World?
I am not sure what to feel on this day, but I know that it isn't an incredible admiration for a sailor lost at sea, somewhere in the order of 5,000 miles off course from his destination of India.
And I do question what exactly he "discovered" that makes us want to celebrate.
I have to think of our astronauts here...we land on the seemingly lifeless moon, but we don't claim Armstrong and company to have "discovered" the moon. So why do we put this honor upon a guy who comes upon a land filled with cultures, civilizations, and history far deeper than the European lands from which he was banished.
We must realize the powerful ways that language suggesting that the C-guy "discovered" this land dismisses all peoples native to this land before his arrival...it is the same language that allowed droves of Europeans to follow the path to Turtle Island, feeling that this was their land to own and conquer, regardless of how many sub-human Natives they had to massacre, and regardless of how many sub-human Africans they forced to toil in chains to make America the Beautiful
Be careful of how flippantly we treat a day like today, and consider celebrating the many cultures and peoples who truly have claim to being "discoverers" of this land the next time the second Monday in October rolls around.
what?
That an Italian outcast, lost at sea, finally found a piece of land?
That after thousands of years of being inhabitated by "pre-historic" peoples, it now miraculously entered into being a bonafide, recognized part of the earth's land mass since a European's feet had touched its soil?
The inception of civilizing and christianizing the savages of the New World?
I am not sure what to feel on this day, but I know that it isn't an incredible admiration for a sailor lost at sea, somewhere in the order of 5,000 miles off course from his destination of India.
And I do question what exactly he "discovered" that makes us want to celebrate.
I have to think of our astronauts here...we land on the seemingly lifeless moon, but we don't claim Armstrong and company to have "discovered" the moon. So why do we put this honor upon a guy who comes upon a land filled with cultures, civilizations, and history far deeper than the European lands from which he was banished.
We must realize the powerful ways that language suggesting that the C-guy "discovered" this land dismisses all peoples native to this land before his arrival...it is the same language that allowed droves of Europeans to follow the path to Turtle Island, feeling that this was their land to own and conquer, regardless of how many sub-human Natives they had to massacre, and regardless of how many sub-human Africans they forced to toil in chains to make America the Beautiful
Be careful of how flippantly we treat a day like today, and consider celebrating the many cultures and peoples who truly have claim to being "discoverers" of this land the next time the second Monday in October rolls around.
Believe it or not, more proof that relgions can get along!
{Paraphrased from event at UNC Chapel Hill, called “Iftaar in the Sukkah,” an event to explore the holidays of Sukkot and Ramadan, held at sundown to coincide with the breaking of the fast for Muslims present, and at the Sukkah on campus, to allow the Jewish community to perform blessings of the holiday of Sukkot. Event was sponsored by UNC Hillel, the UNC Muslim Students Association, and the UNC Interfaith Alliance. Of note, a quarter of the 100 students in attendance were neither Jewish nor Muslim.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the holiest days of the Muslim and Jewish calendars coincide this September, I reflect on the dual sins we are all guilty off – being scared and staying silent. The first has to do with the opportunities we miss to join hands with our sister faiths, as we cower and worry about entering into another faith’s domain. The second, staying silent, has more to do with the times when hatred and bigotry stares us in the face, and yet we remain speechless since it is directed at someone else.
We offer now, our collective prayer…
Why are we scared to join in worship of One Higher,
And then silent when demagogues try to divide us?
Why are we scared to use the beautiful language of The One Greater, used by our sister faith,
And then silent when leaders corrupt this same language of the Holy Books to
make it seem as if we are sworn enemies?
Why are we scared to see the many things that so unite us, especially in this time of fasting and repentance,
And then silent when one more event – a car bomb here, a civilian casualty
there - is blasted upon our collective conscience by religious and secular media as
further evidence of the hatred we are to have for one another?
Why are we scared to see that our smallness and His Greatness binds us as brothers and sisters through divine lineage,
And then silent when a friend or sermon claims that His Mercy and Favor is but
for a chosen few?
Brothers and sisters,
We cannot be scared
nor
silent
any longer,
allowing hatred to linger,
serving as fatal spiritual stinger (to our heart)
Instead, let us replace fear of our sister faiths with fear of Allah, Adonai, The Creator, The Sustainer of us all.
Let us replace silence with a loud heart, voice, and lives that speak to our common smallness and His Universal Greatness.
Let us close this collective poem and prayer by closing our eyes, bowing our heads, and seeking You in our hearts, being neither scared nor silent in chanting the holy words of us all:
Baruch atah Adonai, elohheinu melech ha’olam
(We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the Universe)
Bismillah irrahman irrahim
(In the name of God/Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful)
Shalom
(Peace)
Salaam
(Peace)
Amen
(Let it be so!)
Amin
(Let it be so!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the holiest days of the Muslim and Jewish calendars coincide this September, I reflect on the dual sins we are all guilty off – being scared and staying silent. The first has to do with the opportunities we miss to join hands with our sister faiths, as we cower and worry about entering into another faith’s domain. The second, staying silent, has more to do with the times when hatred and bigotry stares us in the face, and yet we remain speechless since it is directed at someone else.
We offer now, our collective prayer…
Why are we scared to join in worship of One Higher,
And then silent when demagogues try to divide us?
Why are we scared to use the beautiful language of The One Greater, used by our sister faith,
And then silent when leaders corrupt this same language of the Holy Books to
make it seem as if we are sworn enemies?
Why are we scared to see the many things that so unite us, especially in this time of fasting and repentance,
And then silent when one more event – a car bomb here, a civilian casualty
there - is blasted upon our collective conscience by religious and secular media as
further evidence of the hatred we are to have for one another?
Why are we scared to see that our smallness and His Greatness binds us as brothers and sisters through divine lineage,
And then silent when a friend or sermon claims that His Mercy and Favor is but
for a chosen few?
Brothers and sisters,
We cannot be scared
nor
silent
any longer,
allowing hatred to linger,
serving as fatal spiritual stinger (to our heart)
Instead, let us replace fear of our sister faiths with fear of Allah, Adonai, The Creator, The Sustainer of us all.
Let us replace silence with a loud heart, voice, and lives that speak to our common smallness and His Universal Greatness.
Let us close this collective poem and prayer by closing our eyes, bowing our heads, and seeking You in our hearts, being neither scared nor silent in chanting the holy words of us all:
Baruch atah Adonai, elohheinu melech ha’olam
(We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the Universe)
Bismillah irrahman irrahim
(In the name of God/Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful)
Shalom
(Peace)
Salaam
(Peace)
Amen
(Let it be so!)
Amin
(Let it be so!)
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