Politics

Noters Beware!! This is a “mean-note” free diary.

I am so sick of politics in this country, and sick of how polarized we have become. What is wrong with us? Over on Facebook, I am on various dog groups and have added friends who are members of those groups. I do not know them personally. Most of the time I keep my mouth shut. Yesterday, however, one of my friends from Australia posted about the food she fed her dog. A harmless post. She feeds a raw diet and she took a photo of her dog’s meal and left a note about it. Now there are people who are against raw feeding and those who are for it. That’s where the discussion should have stayed, on topic. (And boy would it be nice to have actual DISCUSSIONS nowadays…even on topics like that, whether you agree with feeding raw or disagree with it, things turn nasty. Why do we feel the need to just rip each other apart so much? How can we expect to learn anything new if we just stand die-hard behind what we *think* is right? It’s like we all think we are never wrong anymore, that whatever opinion we have at the moment can never change. Why can’t we open our ears, hear the others out, digest the info…really THINK it over? We might find out that we didn’t know all we thought we did, or at the very least, we might learn something we didn’t previously know. And now, back to the original topic at hand…) But, no. Wouldn’t you know it. The topic of what you feel is best for feeding your dog slowly evolved into one of those “I’m right, you’re wrong” things….which led to someone commenting something along the lines of “It’s like all those Obama-lovers. They don’t know their head from a hole in the ground.” Now, wait a minute!! What EXACTLY does liking Obama have to do with feeding my dogs?

I had a lot I wanted to say to that comment…but I also did not want to turn the post of my Aussie friend into a political nightmare, or at least not any more than it already was. I couldn’t totally bite my tongue, though. I did leave a comment saying that I didn’t see why politics had to be brought into that conversation in the first place and that name calling like that is what has led to our country being so divided. I mean, I was stung by that comment. I lean Democratic. I voted for Obama, because I couldn’t stomach Romney for a number of reasons. Do I think that any of them are perfect? Heck, NO! They are all out of touch with many things, reality being just one of them.

And the Obamacare thing….why are we so darn afraid to at least try it? Our current health care system is very broken. Don’t people see that? So many people can’t afford insurance, they can’t go to the doctor, they suffer in pain and get sick. Is this a good thing? Insurance companies find excuses to deny people coverage and it isn’t always for big, huge, pre-existing conditions like cancer, either. Some people are being turned away for much smaller things. My mother has never had cancer, but she has been hospitalized for a nervous breakdown and had some smaller surgeries. When my dad retired, he could get Medicare, but my mom was left uncovered. She is 10 years younger than my dad and she had one hell of a time finding a company that would cover her. She still isn’t happy with what she has. And she has 3 more years to go until she can get Medicare.

My own experience with insurance…awful. I do have insurance through my employer. I call it my “$27-a-paycheck lawn ornament”. You see, I am single, I work in retail, and I don’t bring home much money. I had some big money problems last fall and wound up not being able to pay for my car insurance, unless I chose to lose my apartment and possibly not eat. And during that time, I got pulled over not just once, but twice. I spent a night in jail. I wound up with even more fees that I couldn’t afford, and my car insurance rates skyrocketed. (And please don’t give me some big long diatribe about how I SHOULD have been punished for driving without insurance. I KNOW I should have had it. But with the piddly amount I am paid I decided that living in a box in the cold wasn’t going to work for me. I paid the rent instead.) So…now, my paycheck is stretched even further, because I have been good and kept my car insurance going. I get paid weekly and it usually takes all of my first week’s check for insurance. I might get lucky and have 10 bucks left over, but that goes for the gas tank. I literally have no money for food the first week of the month. Every month. My rent, which, thankfully, covers utilities, is $300 a month. So I have to pay half of it with the next 2 checks. After that, I usually have about $60 bucks left over…most goes into the gas tank, the rest I use to buy a few groceries that I can stretch out into several meals. I eat more PB&J’s than anyone I know. Sometimes it’s breakfast and lunch. Sometimes I mix it up and buy a jar of honey instead of jelly. But peanut butter is a staple food. The last check of the month I use for my dog’s food for the next month, gas again, and more food. And I always leave some in my account in case my first check of the month doesn’t quite cover the car insurance. Our store’s payroll budget changes on a dime and some weeks I get more hours than others. This month, my first check of the month was $11 short of my car insurance bill, so thankfully there was some left over from my previous check to cover it…and gas for that week too. I would have been in big trouble. Do you see why I call my health insurance my “lawn ornament”? I have it. But I can’t use it. I don’t have enough for the co-pays for the doctor or any prescriptions. I have a hard enough time trying to find 3 bucks for a bottle of cough syrup if I catch a cold. A $30 co-pay? Not gonna happen.

There are so many issues with our current system. It’s broken. We have to do something else. Is Obamacare (rather the ACA) the answer? How in the world do I know? I don’t think it’s going to help me, because I am still stuck with my employer’s insurance that I can’t use. But it’s a start. It’s something ELSE. I think that there needs to be more work on it. We need to get the right people in office that will make that happen. We need to remember these things when we vote. We need to read, and learn, and go to town hall meetings with our representatives. We need to be outspoken. We need to keep the pressure on. But one thing we don’t need to do is knock the people who are at least trying something new. It’s like I said in the beginning of this…we need to listen…take time to digest the info…THINK….THINK HARD. Listen to other’s stories, other’s lives. Look beyond yourself. What works for you might not be working for lots of others. Just because you might have a comfortable job and can afford a $30 co-pay doesn’t mean that every single one of your neighbors are in the same boat. They might not be in a boat at all…they mig

ht be out there struggling just to stay afloat. To me, that is called compassion. It’s looking out for the other guy. And our country right now is so far from that. We are a mess.