Tell My Children I Didn’t Give Up

Today the MAGA party raised up their hoods so they could confirm the least qualified person to ever be named Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Shortly before it became official I lay down on a table in Southlake so that tech could scan my liver. She asked me if I had any questions or concerns and I said “Tell My Children I Didn’t Give Up.”

It was a tongue-in-cheek remark because this was a diagnostic scan to see if I have any liver damage, a preventative measure.

One that is necessary because I have fatty liver disease. There has been significant improvement, my enzymes are good and overall things look promising but there is work to be done.

I haven’t suffered any issues from it as far as I can tell but when the doc said he wanted to confirm what things really look like I said sure.

You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken.

My comment caught the tech off guard and for a moment I could see her try to figure out how to respond.

When she saw the broad smile across my face she knew I was messing around. But that didn’t stop me from getting serious and asking her if she was aware that our government was putting a fool into place.

I Am Lucky

Sometimes I remind myself how very lucky I am to have had the good fortune to have been born in America to a middle class family.

We weren’t rich but we never lacked for any of the basic necessities and by virtue of being born in the late sixties I had access to good healthcare.

That is not something everyone has and medical science improved significantly between the time my grandparents were born and I came around.

I got scarlet fever when I was in kindergarten and scared the hell out of my paternal grandfather who had memories of people dying from it.

Good fortune helped ensure I grew up in a time when so many scary diseases were easily handled by vaccines.

I have had the bad fortune to live in a time in which ignorant dolts, dunces and fools who have no medical or expertise in science have come to flawed conclusions about medicine.

That is a big part of how we have ended up with a fool in the Oval Office who has condoned horrific changes in public health and put up another fool as secretary.

I have no issue with experts reviewing our public health systems and resources. No issue with people who have altruism and servant leadership characteristics in working to make improvements.

But I can’t stand by and watch fools be elevated to these roles and celebrate ignorance and stupidity.

Sadly that is where we are at because the government is currently compromised.

We elected a felon who bullied, berated and conned people into supporting him and his wealth of very bad ideas.

A government built on checks and balances is being rocked by a mentally incapacitated old man because one branch is foregoing their responsibilities.

They aren’t doing their jobs or upholding a sacred obligation to help protect democracy by not allowing the executive to exceed their authority.

One day my grandchildren will ask how it happened and whether we fought to keep the dark from swallowing the light.

When they do I know I’ll be able to say I did my part and rallied others to theirs. I’ll know I didn’t give up and lay on the floor in a fetal position.

I’ll know there will be a reason for people to read a poem like the one below after I am gone. I’ll have made some kind of difference and helped others because it is the right thing to do.

No one will say I went quietly into the night and that I let the dark take me. I don’t need millions, thousands or hundreds to remember me either.

It will be fine if only a few can speak my name and know I once walked upon this planet because I will have made a positive impact upon their lives.

That is my hope and dream for people in general. That they will remember we are like ripples in a pond and that by touching a few we can reach many.