“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.”
John Holmes
As I listen to all the rhetoric being bandied around by everyone with an ax to grind in Washington, I'm reminded of the phenomenon known as “schoolyard justice.” When I was growing up I saw it in action more than once and learned to respect it's unwritten, often changing rules. Fair Play wasn't at the top of the good behavior designations, because there was very little Fair Play to be had.
There's a violent tug-o-war going on and we the people are in the middle. From one minute to the next we don't know if our jobs will be there tomorrow, if we have enough in the bank to keep us afloat during an emergency, if we will continue to have health insurance, if we have it at all. We try to get a bead on where our senators and congress members stand. They're supposed to represent us. We hired them by voting them in and therefore they are supposed to be our employees. So why are they more concerned with themselves and their cronies than what we have to say?
I overhear conversations when I am out. I hear the elderly worrying about whether they should buy food or buy their prescriptions. I hear young parents worrying about how they're going to pay for their children's school clothes and supplies and, later, their education. I hear empty nesters trying to make sense of all the changes in their lives that began from the moment their last child moved out, which too often triggered depression and anxiety needing expensive professional help.
I have seen how quickly a good life can turn bad. I have seen people I was acquainted with who were solidly middle-class suddenly find themselves at the poverty line because a factory shut down or a business decided to downsize. Sometimes it can take years to rebuild their lives and there are some who have to do so from rock bottom. They had never dreamt they would need food stamps or food distributions or energy assistance just to survive. They never could have imagined that they would one day be wearing other people's castoffs
Then I listen to those in Washington who obviously do not care about their most vulnerable constituents. Who promise vast tax breaks to the very wealthy while trying to cut or even take away the programs that exist solely to help those who have little to fall back on. They fight any efforts to help those who need help even as they fight to help their rich friends and benefactors not have to pay their fair share of taxes. What I can't understand is how anyone with a conscience can continually vote for those without one.
The United States, in many ways, has become the “Country of Me.” Many cannot or will not see beyond their own situation to what someone else might be enduring. It doesn't impact them so why should they care? Why should they be made to help the less fortunate when there's no reason the less fortunate can't find a job, preferably somewhere their presence won't impact property values?
It is to your benefit not to judge those who are less well off than you, because one day, you may be walking in their shoes. Literally.
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