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Saturday, January 9, 2010

Big folks (us) help little folks.

I wrote the title of this piece as a throw-away line in a piece I did on Gather.com on the need for health care reform. Some Moonbat Right-Wingnut promptly dropped a comment that it sounded like Communism to him. Leaving aside the jump right over Socialism, let's explore my statement a bit. To begin with, it's a family credo. The Old Man and my Mother (Dick and Hattie Larlham taught it to us by living it., and any lesson taught by constant example is the hardest lesson to forget.

So-o-o-o-o... who are "big folks?" You and I are, that's who. Simply put, "big folks" comprise those who can do something or have something. Conversely, "little folks" comprise those who CAN'T do something for themselves, or DON'T have something they really need. And it's our family's considered opinion that those who can or have, oughta be helpin' those who can't or don't.

But none of that is to say you have to do everything for anybody. And none of it is to say you have to beggar yourself to make someone else rich, or even to just help them (although my folks nearly did early on). Dick and Hattie taught us that the small help of the many will far exceed the great help of one or two. They taught us that if you can't find a spare dime, you might be able to find a spare hour. And they taught us to be fair.

If you see someone who has none at all of a needful thing, and you have a great deal of that same thing... it's no crime to ask that you and your fellows give up a little of what you have, so that others may have any at all. And when you see a great wrong that looks like it will take more than you could ever do to right it... start in anyway. Somebody'll come along and give you a hand, and they'll have a friend, and...

Those who know me, know that I am not religious - not, in fact, even a believer. However, for those who are, I offer this... Remember the parable of the widow's mite. Remember that there is a biblical injunction to "... sell your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor." There is Christ's injunction to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." But nowhere in there does it say, "Sell everything and give it to the poor... and become poor yourself." It does not say the Widow gave her last mite and could not buy food. It does not say "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and love thy neighbor as thyself... neglecting to feed, care for and house thy family." No, big folks help little folks, and maintain a standard that allows them to KEEP helping.

And that's the point of Medicare, Medicaid, Nichigan's MI Child program, and many other... AND of the proposed healthcare reforms. The cost of providing care for those who have no way to obtain it is spread in small increments around those who HAVE the wherewithal. To allow uninsured people to remain uninsured in unconscionable. To allow people to remain uninsured because their husbands beat them, because they had a disease thirty years ago, because... Well, you get the idea. We can't keep doin' this. WE'RE BIG FOLKS! We need to step up!

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