Health Care and Caring for our Sick and Weak

Do we care?  How do we care, for the sick and the weak?

This is what our national health care system really touches upon.

Given our national attitude, it seems that we actually have little compassion and little care for the sick and weak among us—it’s more like “every man for himself.”

We know that the world can be harsh and unkind.  People get sick, there are unexpected accidents and unanticipated illnesses that hit many families.  That’s life.

So, the point is this: we are either in this together, as a national community, or we are not.  If not, it is the wealthy that will stay healthy.  And as to everyone else, it’s “Tough luck; that’s life!”

The greed of some resists the needs of the many.  We tend to reserve available health care resources for only those that can afford it.

We seem to prefer an imbalance, inequality when it comes to who receives and who does not receive adequate, even basic, health care services.

All do not care for the sick, the weak, or the old (and the very young), that is left only to the few.

Thus, not all life is equally valued (consider how we treat nature and its creatures).

Contrast this to a Shabbat Prayer:

“And then all that has divided us will merge

Then compassion will be wedded to power

And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind

And then both women and men will be gentle

And then both men and women will be strong

And then no person will be subject to another’s will

And then all will be rich and free and varied

And then greed of some will give way to the needs of many

Then all will share equally in the earth’s abundance

And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old

And then all will nourish the young

And then all will cherish life’s creatures

And then all will live in harmony with each other and the environment

And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.”