And make more (and I am angry, I will get to that shortly)
Why, you ask?
Simple, it gives you a better chance you have of someone
taking care of you in old age. Trite you reply. Well please go to a nursing home
or a retirement home or a Medicaid facility or skilled care facility or
wherever and get ready to realize how sad we are as a society. Okay maybe a bit
much, I do know for a fact many people take care of their parents, maybe even a
large majority in some shape form or fashion. My wife and I took care of ours,
I know many people in various scenarios at work, church, and friends and acquaintances
that do.
Yet go. You will be amazed or worse shocked at how many
older people are there day in and day out with no visitors. And if you go regularly
the depression of it all will scare you. We tried taking care of our parents by
ourselves. The task is overwhelming even with help. With my Mother, she lived in
a true retirement home so there was someone always around, she felt good
because she had her own apartment in the building and we could visit regularly
and if emergencies happened, which they did, they had staff to call an ambulance
if needed. If she got sick, we could get her to the doctor or hospital. She had
a debilitating disease and it wore on her over time. Again, we had help and a family
member who is a nurse who could help us with understanding the problems she was
going through. Even there which was nice, had social events, group outings,
etc,,, there were people whose only contact with others was with other
residents, not their family. And you could tell in their faces when us and
other families would come to Sunday dinner or whenever to visit. My Mom spent her
entire pension check just to live there. It was nice, but not fancy. I can tell
you I was glad she had the resources, plus me and my siblings.
Now imagine someone of modest means or on Medicaid and no
family or no family that cared. Wow, depression city. My Mother in Law lived
off a small pension and social security. She had Alzheimer’s so we took care of
her at home for as long as we could. This is very draining on a family,
especially since our children our spread out in ages and the younger two were
still living at home. Alzheimer’s is a very sad disease and the kids struggled
with trying to understand what was happening with their Grandmother. Eventually
we had to put her in a facility that took Medicaid. And wow there were way too many
people there who never saw visitors. This was many years ago but going there
with my wife or visiting my Mom for the last couple of years left a lasting
impression on me. Scares me to think what we are doing as a society.
So why exactly am I mad. First the above, where are the
families. Boy you need to make sure not to piss off the kids, huh? Or, what
actually happened in their lives where they are left to rot on a bed being
looked at by caregivers with minimal training so they the corporations do not
have to pay much. The wonder is so many of these caregivers’ care and get
involved with their residents. Minor miracle there it seems. Anyway, having seen
it for years, I still am left wondering what do we do?
And this is why I am mad. The same people who scream they
are pro-life, do nothing about life once people are born. Pro-life is respect
of life from conception to natural death. Alpha – omega and all in between. Yet
do they care about education, equal opportunity, living wage, treating each
other with respect, and being with people in their last days to share those
fleeting moments or help us with protecting social security and Medicare/Medicaid?
Being pro-life has nothing to do with being Republican or Democrat; it has everything
to do with life. Everything!
Yes, I saw Unplanned this weekend. Fair warning if you are a
bit squeamish, (and I am), there are a couple moments in the film that are a
bit rough. Apparently, this is why it has a “R” rating. I encourage you to go
because it is a wakeup call. Yes, it is definitely one sided. It is not some
major production like Star Wars or a Marvel movie. It is very simple. You do
not have to agree with some of the evangelical approach to pro-life, but it is a
start. If you want a more heart-warming pro-life story read “The Diplomat” on www.Smashwords.com by the same author as
the Red Chair. There are many stories that have the same titles, so match up
those two stories to find the story noted here.
The key though is birth is a start, not the end of a
pro-life journey and way too many people simply ignore what is truly needed to
be pro-life from conception to natural death. Way too many people, including
certain politicians who turn on the pro-life verbiage when it is convenient, but
what about the 600 other issues we face in life? It just doesn’t make the edge
of the radar screen with them. We allow our politicians to tell us what they
represent, when in actuality, they only represent themselves and their words
are so different from their actions.
So, if you want to argue with a pro-life person. Start at
the end of life and work backwards, if they can meet you there, then you truly
have someone who believes in pro-life. Do not bother with anyone else, they are
not the real McCoy.
Cheers
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