Wednesday, July 11, 2007

SICKO 2...will we change?

SICKO, Michael Moore's new film clearly shows that our health care system is a costly debacle that is leaving us unhealthy and financially strained. But for me, the scariest comment came as a result of his asking whether or not we could change our system. I think he was talking to a man from France and this gentleman said to Moore, "Here in France, the gov't is afraid of the people and responds to our protests...but in America, the people are afraid of the gov't and are afraid to rebel'.

I sat there and thought--boy is he right. And that's it in a nutshell....we're afraid. Even worse, we're afraid of our government--and we're afraid to come together to insist on changes that would benefit 90% of us because we've been conditioned by the massive media/corporate story that says "Universal health care is a lose-lose proposition". We've become so complacent in the 0-5 reactive/unconscious/victim story that even when we're staring insanity in the face, we shrug and walk away.

Because the real 'lose-lose proposition is the current system. The Corporately controlled, money-driven health care system is a lose-lose proposition for all but a few people--those who either own the stock of an insurance company and have benefited directly by increasing stock value OR those who work at the top levels of the insurance corporations. All the rest of us are in lose-lose. We know it, and Moore's film shows it to us in black, white and color.

I'll make a bet though--we will not protest. We will not come together in droves and insist that this terrible system be changed. By the end of the summer, SICKO will be a blip on the screen. And by next year, 50 million will be uninsured.....and we'll all just keep crossing our fingers that nothing bad happens to us and we don't have to deal with this archaic, unhealthy system--because if we do, it won't be pretty.

HOWEVER....just in case you would like to consider doing something--here's a link to Michael Moore's website's recommendations to get you started. We all need to get involved--we need to get Congress to work for us--that's their job.

Moore asks at the end of the films "Is this what we've become?". The America he grew up in, the one I grew up in--was an America that cared for each other. Now, its every man for himself. We have to ask how that transition happened--and whether we'll stay trapped in it. We don't have to but if we remain stuck in the 0-5, unconscious, victim, passive role, we stay trapped. Every day--any of us can switch to the 6-10, conscious, active role and when we do, change happens. First in little ways--and then in big.

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