Two Million Dollars Per Day

Two Million Dollars per day is being spent on advertising/lobbying for and against the Health Care Reform (PBS News Hour Friday, 07/24/09). What do we, the People, get for this money? Slogans, sound bites, half-truths and outright lies. We are supposed to become "emotional" about the issue. We are certainly not learning anything we could use to make an intelligent decision on the subject. And - we do not even get to vote on the reform. Our Representatives are. We know where that leads to, most of the time.

Does the money spent on this propaganda help the economy? I doubt it - the money flows directly into the pockets of the people who own the media. Do they hire more employees? No. The advertising agencies who create the blitz are staffed already. So, does all that make sense? You be the judge.

A couple of comments on the reform itself. For the better part of thirty years I lived with "socialized" medicine in Austria. Neither my family nor I had any more problems with that system than I have had with my doctor visits and hospital stays here. The big difference was that I paid for my insurance through a small payroll deduction and that took care of everything. (Full disclosure: currently there is a symbolic co-pay for doctor visits and prescription drugs). If I wanted to see a 'special' specialist or wanted a better crown than the system would pay for I could shell out the difference and have the satisfaction.

One last question: What is the difference between an insurance-run and a government-run "bureaucracy"? To me there is none, except one very important one - the private insurance does want to make a profit and therefore is more expensive. As an old friend of mine always says "The largest part of 'cost' is profit."

A Bikeride and A Study of Life

This is about my enjoyment of a slow bike ride – anywhere, anytime. Pedaling through the alleys and through parks, along the Green Bay Trail and through the neighborhood, I take in vibrant specks of color where people have planted and tended their flowers, on one front lawn I spot three bunnies enjoying their dinner, nodding their noses and wiggling their ears. There are pots full of petunias hanging along garages, blooming bushes peeking over the fences. And there is a family sitting in their backyard enjoying snacks, drinks and conversation, the kids playing on their swingset. A man is carefully wiping the remaining water spots off his just washed Jaguar.

These views fill me with joy, joy over the wonderful world around me. The world beyond may not be as peaceful and admirable but there are flowers and bunnies anywhere, even if they are very small and very far apart.

After writing down these ideas, I found this quote in my email inbox: “A study of life is the greatest of all religions, and there is no greater or more interesting study.” It is by Hazrat Inayat Khan, the East Indian mystic who brought Sufism to the Western World starting in the 1920’s. Following is his commentary:

“There are two ways in which we may attain control over our activity. The first is confidence in the power of our own will; to know that if we have failed today, tomorrow we will not do so. The second is to have our eyes wide open, and to watch keenly our activity in all aspects of life. It is in the dark that we fall, but in the light we can see where we are going.

“… we should have our eyes wide open to see where we walk. We should study life, and seek to know why we say a thing, and why we act as we do. We have failed perhaps hitherto because we have not been wide awake. We have fallen, and felt sorry, and have forgotten all about it, and perhaps may have fallen again. This is because we have not studied life. A study of life is the greatest of all religions, and there is no greater and more interesting study. Those who have mastered all grades of activity, they above all experience life in all its aspects. They are like swimmers in the sea who float on the water of life and do not sink.” *

Let’s go out and swim, float and see!

*) from the “Bowl of Saki” a book of Hazrat Inayat Kahn’s quotes published by his students.

Piles of Pillows

Just received JC Penney’s latest Home Sale Catalog. The pictures reminded me of a subject I wanted to bring up here: Pillows on the bed in the bedroom. Would you believe seven (7) pillows for each bed?

Recently I spent some time at my son’s house. There were nine (9) pillows on my bed. Two of them hidden under the bedspread – the ones my wife and I slept on. The rest in a neat assembly by color and shape on top. All seven of them had to be deposited somewhere for the night. And redisplayed on the bed during the day. Who – I ask- came up with this frivolity? Interior designers? (The arrangement does not look attractive to me!) Pillow manufacturers? Pillow cover manufacturers? Or maybe even architects and builders having to create (and sell) more space for storing extra pillows?

At a time when we hear a lot about conspicuous (and unnecessary) consumption this trend seems to be even more frivolous. Does it make sense? Common Sense? No.

Think millions of refugees all over the world sleeping without blankets and without pillows!