Failure and the American Dream

I never thought I would agree with Bill O'Reilly on any issue . . .political, cultural, or economic. I am a dedicated progressive. But his article in yesterday's Parade magazine was dead on. The subject was the lessons that today's young people can learn from Obama's life story. http://www.parade.com/news/2009/08/09-what-obama-can-teach-americas-kids.html. The lessons are forgiveness, respect, persistence, hard work, and anything is possible. Yes, Obama shows us that anything is possible; the American dream is alive and well. But he didn't realize his dream by being afraid of failure. His parents did not protect him from trying and falling short and getting up and trying again. And this is a lesson learned as a child, not as an adult. We deprive our children of the American dream and stunt their growth as intelligent, innovative thinkers when we protect them from risk and they are never allowed to lose. It's about time we realized that failure is part of life and begin, once again, to teach our children that there is no shame in losing and that failure is an essential step toward the American dream.

Lies, Death, and Health Care Reform

I am a staunch advocate of freedom of speech. I abhor censorship in any form. So I do not think for one minute that Rush Limbaugh and his ilk should be silenced. However, I must ask the question. Why? Why do these talking heads lie with impunity? They are not stupid people. They must know that much of what they expound is based on easily recognizable falsehoods. Does freedom of speech give them the right to lie? Lying to a vulnerable population about the end-of-life counseling provision in the health care reform bill and using such words as euthanasia is cruel and insensitive. And telling such lies to gain power or money and inflate one's own ego is self absorption at its most harmful.

I do not agree with all provisions in the bill, but it's about time we discussed the merits of the legislation based on facts, not lies and innuendos.

Health Care Reform and "End of Life" Counseling

After listening, briefly, to some of the more strident talking heads, I have concluded that they must believe that everyone of my generation is either senile or stupid or cannot read. I fully understand that end-of-life counseling, as provided for in the health care reform bill, is simply a provision that pays doctors to tell us what options we have as we grow older. We have choices, and we definitely need to know what those choices are, think about them clearly, and make our wishes known to our loved ones before those choices are made for us by circumstances.

I have no problem with getting older. I am just as smart, active, and involved as I ever was. Perhaps more so now that I am no longer responsible for children. But I strongly resent the way these opponents of health care reform are distorting facts and scaring people. We need a healthy debate, but we need a debate that deals in facts. Seniors can go to www.whitehouse.gov and find out what this reform is really about. It's about time we considered the reality instead of the fog of fear and distortion that seems to surround this discussion.

More about Eagles

What magnificent creatures! When they were released, my spirit soard with them. I knew why my ancestors revered eagle feathers and gave them mystical powers. The experience of watching these birds rise in freedom and disappear was ineffable. It is about time that we remembered the power of nature to renew our spirits.

The joy of eagles

Today I am going to Mason Neck State Park and watch the Wildlife Center of Virginia release three bald eagles back into the wild. This occasion is historic. The first time in the 27 year history of the Center that they have released three eagles. This once-in-a-lifetime event reminded me of this extraordinary quotation from Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

"...and there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than the other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."
— Herman Melville

It's about time we remembered the eagle that lives in all of us and recapture that sense of amazing joy that visits us every day.

Fun in the emergency room

I have to admit that I have become really, really bored with the ongoing discussion on health care reform. I have been listening to the same arguments and the same lies for most of my life (and it has so far been a long one). Some things I know for certain. It is broken. It has been broken for years. We need to fix it. Last night I spent several hours in the emergency room with a friend. I discovered one aspect of our current system that is expensive and unnecessary. People use the emergency room as a primary care facility. In the entire three hours I was there, I saw only one real emergency. A young man had crashed his motorcycle and hit his head. He needed the emergency room. Emergency rooms are expensive. It would be much more cost effective if we provided inexpensive primary care for everyone and saved the expensive emergency room facilities for real emergencies. It's about time that we realized the value of good preventive and primary care or everyone.

Nancy Drew

An editorial in the Washington Post and several recent news stories reminded me that books can have an amazing impact on young readers. Seems some very prominent women were huge Nancy Drew fans during their most impressionable years. While I cannot claim prominence, I can include myself in this group. What did I learn from Nancy? That girls can take risks and succeed, be smart and self sufficient. Nancy could and did do anything, and so could I. For a young woman growing up in the fifties when gender bias and stereotypical roles were the accepted norm, the lessions learned from Nancy were invaluable. I have a Ph.D. because Nancy Drew taught me that I was clever enough and strong enough to rule! Those hours spent with the girl detective were some of the most productive of my life, and it's about time I said thank you!