Thursday, October 8, 2009

the dove

When I was just a little girl, my sister and I were out riding our Big Wheels on a beautiful, fall afternoon. I remember crying out to my sister, "Stop!" when I realized she was about to run over a wounded dove that was near the curb.


Using only my bare hands, I gently grasped the injured creature and carried it home. My sister called to my mother to come help. Within hours, we had an elaborate "bird-care system" consisting of a box, warm water balloons, dishes of water, and Vienna Sausages. (Yes, doves love Vienna Sausages!")

After a week or two of tender care, my mother actually managed to save this bird. I think it had a broken wing, but we will never be sure. Regardless, I remember my mom turning it loose and encouraging my sister and I to watch it fly away. Our young eyes followed its tentative flight...first, from box to garage step; then, from step to our fence. It seemed to hesitate for ages before it finally flew out of sight and off into the horizon.

My sister and I have always retained the memory of "the dove", but its memory was fully resurrected this afternoon. I was preparing to take my dog to the vet by bringing towels, my purse, etc. to the car when I noticed a dove at the end of my driveway. It was almost collapsed, with legs drawn up underneath its torso and beak touching the concrete. Corbin was with me, and shouted "bird!" enthusiastically as I tried to move him back towards the house.

Once I was inside, I remembered "the dove". Though I knew I was about to be late for my appointment, I scrounged around and found a box. I busted open a can of Vienna sausages. I even lined the box with shredded paper and filled a small tray with water before grabbing Corbin's hand and venturing out to find the injured bird.

The bird was still there. My heart raced with excitement...Once again, the warm, familiar feelings of child-like compassion flooded me, and I realized I was going to be late for a good reason. I drew closer to the bird, with Corbin close by my side, and reached out to touch it.

It flew away.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

health care

I am always reluctant to discuss politics. While I am extremely interested in politics and do lots of personal research, my opinion has always been that the majority of people (myself included) do not seem to know what they are talking about when they begin their arguments. The issue of healthcare, however, seems pretty obvious.

According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. currently ranks in at #37 in healthcare. We rank below Oman, Morocco, Canada (gasp!), Chile, and Costa Rica. Guess who is number one? FRANCE! That is right! The socialized, liberal, majority non-Christian country called France is #1 in healthcare! While I know that the U.S. loves to hate on France for reasons I do not even want to discuss, we should really sit back and think about this.

As of Nov. 2006, 83% of Americans were dissatisfied with the total costs associated with our healthcare system. I believe this number has reduced drastically since Obama has been elected, though I am having a hard time getting specific statistics. However, if you were to slide over to Fox News and read the opinions section, you will hear people saying things like "We don't need a BOY doing a man's job when it comes to healthcare reform!" These are, of course, the same people who call themselves loving, forgiving Christians.

But I digress. The only point that I want to make is that there is something very sick about having a for-profit healthcare system. Insurance companies have analysts on staff whose primary jobs are to find ways to exclude people from being covered. Healthcare costs are skyrocketing. There has got to be a better way! I know change is scary, but we cannot let our fear get in the way of progress.