Show me the money

This evening I find little in the political world to excite me. Perhaps I am just tired of the joke we have made of the democratic process, or perhaps I have simply missed the latest barbs betwixt candidates. More likely, I am sad that though the writer's strike is deserved, it leaves me without the guidance of Colbert and Stewart, so I don't know what to talk about. Even more likely, I am depressed because I realized today I don't believe in democracy so much as republicanism. I am sure we will get to that at some point.

This evening, I am thinking about, well, our own fragility. I don't want to get into philosophical treatises on the meaning of life or fortune cookie advice. And I could certainly turn this into a tirade about health care. Seriously, I could. But I am working at a middle school part-time, and what I see there reminds me that I have it SO EASY. I work with kids who are dyslexic. Dyslexia is such a minuscule problem and yet so many will get stuck in entry-level positions because of it. I have colleagues who have children with autism and I can't even imagine that struggle. But those kids are lucky enough to have successful and educated parents. I know from personal experience that juvenile diabetes is a killer. But we have access to great doctors and specialists. We have cancer, mental illness, heart disease, and anemia just in my immediate family - and we are going to live forever. What happens to the kids I work with who have leukemia and whose parents work two full-time jobs? They probably don't live forever.

And so I get infuriated when I hear about what a drain the poor are on us. How the hell can a decent person not DEMAND that we take care of the health of those around us? I have this crazy idea that if people are healthier they will be more successful. And you know what? Sometimes that kind of advancement takes research, and research takes money. Suck it up. You think life is sacred, treat it like it's holy - or at least special.

I think I might be sick. But luckily, I am middle-class, so I should be able to get better.