Remember me?

First, let me apologize for my leave of absence. This Brown Eyed Girl just has not been finding the time to organize my thoughts, sit down, and get busy posting. I appreciate all of you checking in occasionally to see what I'm ranting about today.

Try not to fall out of your seats from the pure shock but I'm going to chat just briefly today about the health care bill. I'm sure you are all so sick of hearing about it that you could honestly throw up. Between the ignorant rantings from both directions politically, and the media doing a total blitz it just gets to be a bit too much. No secret folks, I hang my hat on the left side of the aisle, and have been known to bleed blue. So, of course for me, this feels like a huge victory. I feel so proud of what I did with my vote that I could burst. President Obama isn't perfect, I disagree with several of his current policies, but I think what he's been able to motivate our congress to do (with the help of several key democratic figures) is astonishing. I never really believed I would see any kind of universal health care in my lifetime. The bill is not perfect, but it's progress and that has to be good. I beg of you each to work hard to inform yourself from factual resources. MSNBC is far too left winged, and FOX News is raging red! Find some middle ground, perhaps NPR, they are a very considerate and fairly unbiased source. Please don't let fear be your guiding light. If you read up on this, inform yourself and still don't agree then that's okay but regurgitating another person's ignorance perpetuates a laundry list of terrible things. Some of you may have read it from a post I left on a friends page yesterday, but I would like to leave you with my personal feelings on this issue:

The bottom line is that we each get to choose what we believe, that's the beauty of free will, a gift given to us. We don't get to make the final call on what's best for the greater good ultimately, that's God, or whatever higher being you go withs, decision. So, why not do what we can in this lifetime to practice tolerance, patients, and help for our fellow man? If we get to the end of our days and there is a God and there is a heaven then hopefully we've lived a life that grants us entrance. If there isn't, then we've lost nothing but left behind a legacy of kindness and grace. Not a shabby deal. I feel that health care reform falls into that last sentiment. Is it fair that we should have to pay for people that are capable of working but don't...nope, not at all. However, if my extra tax dollars can help just one person that truly needs it then I figure it's worth it. My dad said to me once, "don't you worry that the donations you make are going to some deadbeat?". To this I replied, "I donate with love not intention".

As I leave my readers today I want you to just honestly try to walk around in another pair of shoes. Ask yourself if you are somehow impervious to life's tragedies. How many of us are more than a few paychecks, a cancer diagnosis, or the loss of a partner away from financial ruin? I certainly hope that if fate comes knocking at my door with a proverbial pink slip someday that I will be living in a country willing to offer me a hand up.