ClydeStyle

Blog

  • Rembering John Wooden

    This week the sports world will moan the death of a legend. “The Wizard of Westwood,” as he was called, is being heralded as the greatest coach – in any sport – of all time.

    This is a great honor for John Robert Wooden, who would also drop pearls of wisdom to those who played for him and admired him. Such sayings as: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail,” “Flexibility is the key to stability, ” and “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”

    Early in my journalism career, I had the esteemed pleasure of hearing one of Coach Wooden’s lectures on leadership. I was also honored to have the chance to interview him. We spent 35 minutes alone and I was able to instantly see what everyone who came in contact with him saw: Greatness.

    This is not an adjective that I use lightly. When you meet someone so humble, so genuine, so gracious and so blessed, you recognize very quickly that he’s just not like the rest of us.

    John Wooden sat and talked to me in three ways. I know that sounds strange, but in part of the conversation he was a coach to me – not basketball coach, but life coach. In another moment he was a father to me, sharing the lessons he learned in life very intimately. And in still another moment he was a true man of God, giving God all the credit for the man he had become.

    It was weird in a way because his actions were nothing like I expected.

    I wanted to talk to him about his coaching career and his 10 NCAA championships. I wanted to talk about all the great players he had coached. And I wanted to talk sports period with him and get his take on who he thought would win the championship that year.

    I even remember being given the assignment because everyone else was out covering games and I was on the sports desk that night. The sports editor at the time said that if I wanted to, I could cover the talk or just write something up from talking with the event planners.

    For us, this wasn’t big news.

    After all, the guy had been retired from coaching for at least 15 years. He had written a book and was talking to the Boy Scouts or Boys and Girls Clubs – I actually can’t remember which one now.

    But what I recall most from that interview was the fact that he didn’t think his accomplishments were as big as the people he had come into contact with throughout his career. He didn’t want to discuss basketball as a part of life, but life itself and what really matters in life.

    Coach Wooden retired in 1975. He could have coached anywhere and clearly he was healthy enough to continue coaching. Obviously, Wooden was not coaching just for the love of basketball. It was his vehicle. Basketball was his means of telling God’s secret to everyone he came in contact with during his career. I call it God’s secret because it seems as though the rest of the world has forgotten it – and continues to forget it.

    God’s secret is LOVE. Remember John 3:16?

    Wooden was a savvy preacher because he never made you feel like he was preaching to you or that he thought you were lacking in an area so he had to instruct you. Without coming across as “holier than thou” or being inappropriate in regards to mixing religion into his business, he just lived his life in a way that reflected the image of God in the face of the people he met.

    I remember reading about how Jesus did that same thing. Jesus then turned around and told His disciples to do the same thing.

    Clearly Coach Wooden was listening.

    And as he is put to rest and the media, fans and his family spend the next week laying him to rest, it is my wish that basketball never comes up and they don’t even talk about what he’s done, because he wouldn’t.

    I hope they remember him for the man he was, and not the things he did. For the latter doesn’t even compare to the character of this great man.

    And if you haven’t seen it yet, search the internet for his famous “pyramid of success,” for by reading and studying it, you will know everything you need to know about John Wooden and how you, too, can have a successful life.

    R.I.P. Coach!

  • Which Memorials Do You Remember?

    Okay, so this is the week we honor those who died in service to our nation.

    This tradition was started after the Civil War. Legend says that an organized women’s group began decorating graves towards the end of the Civil War.

    Memorial Day (in 1860 it was first called Decoration Day) was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

    Years later (1966), President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the birthplace of Memorial Day to be Waterloo, NY.  It was after WWI that Memorial Day changed from honoring just Civil War soldiers to anyone who died in any war.

    But I wonder about those who died in service to our country? Whether they died in war or were victims of what I call “American Circumstances.”

    American circumstances are situations that are unique to Americans and serve as a catalyst for positive change. Any event that led to the death of someone that eventually moved our country forward in a positive way would fit this category.

    Have we forgotten these fallen heroes?

    I’m thinking of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which is different from the assassination of John F., and Robert Kennedy.

    The difference?

    King’s murder single handedly heightened the awareness of the struggle and pricked the consciousness of our nation. It brought Blacks and Whites together and changed our civil liberties to include all people. The death of the Kennedys simply made our nation lose trust in its government.  Conspiracy theorists had a field day with the inconsistent information distributed through the media by our government.

    Also consider the shooting deaths of the people at Kent State and the shooting deaths at the Columbine school. Although both were extremely tragic, Kent State’s shooting raised the social consciousness of our nation and set us for the defense of the freedoms we love. Death to protesters was something that wasn’t supposed to happen in our country. These deaths were not in vain. The Columbine deaths sent America into serious panic mode. New rules were resurrected and penalties were put in place in a very weak attempt to deter this violence. Of course it didn’t work. Several other shootings followed and all for the same reason – bullying. Whether on a college campus or on a military base, American suffered at the hands of these shooters our society created.

    Finally, let’s compare other plane crashes from the events of September 11. We tend to learn from every plane crash in history. Past plane crashes have contributed to many safety advances from the development of better engines to each plane having its own radar. September 11th gave us new rules, regulations and fear. We now jump through hoops to get on a plane and still to this day, terrorists are getting on planes with items other than Christmas presents.

    The point here is this: It’s important for us to remember those often forgotten heroes whose deaths moved us forward. These deaths – whether accidental or purposed – contributed just as much in the development of our country as any war did. If wars gave America physical stamina, then these above-mentioned deaths gave us mental toughness. We wouldn’t be where we are as a country without them. So please remember all who have served and/or died for the betterment of all our lives.

  • What type of person are you?

    As an employer, I’ve reviewed lots of resumes. Some made me laugh, some made me cry and some actually made me angry.

    Let me explain.

    An example of a resume that makes me laugh is one that I know is full of fluff. You know the type: The housewife who calls herself a domestic engineer or the receptionist who calls herself a communication specialist. Resumes that make me cry are the ones where you know the person didn’t use “spell check” and you see that the person is trying real hard, but too many errors spell trouble. Resumes that make me angry are the ones which are just an outright lie. This is beyond fluff. This is the idiot who thinks that you won’t contact the previous employers so they say they did things in the job responsibilities that don’t match the pay grade. The point of all of this is how we see ourselves.

    Some people are the type that can “make it happen!” There are others who just simply “watch it happen!” and still others who wonder “what happen?” Of these three, which are you?

    Are you the person who is working a dead end job with no room for advancement? Not only that, but if there was room for advancement, you don’t have any skills to advance. Does your resume look like a smorgasbord of jobs that don’t connect? There is nothing wrong with being this way if it’s working for you. If it’s not, it’s probably because you are the person who wonders “what happen?”

    The scariest part of the economy collapse is the idea of old jobs vanishing and a person not being able to compete in the new job market. I remember in the ‘90s when the Willow Run plant closed in Ypsilanti, Mich., and many of the people there were out of work and could not find any jobs which paid the same as the plant. These were good folks who spent the last 18 – 20 years of their lives taking care of their families and putting their kids through school. They paid their bills on time and enjoyed a nice middle class income. Once the plant closed there was nothing. These folks had a high school education and with overtime made upwards of 70K. The only jobs available for them in the small town of Ypsilanti paid from six to eight dollars per hour.  They were then stuck wondering what happen.

    Those that “watch it happen” tend to be lazy. These are your run-of-the-mill, satisfied where I am, don’t want to break a sweat type people who are still looking for a short cut to success. These people clearly have the ability to be better, but won’t. Why you ask? Any number of reasons: scared of failure, scared of success, low self-worth, arrogant or lazy. I remember when I used to manage market research companies and I had an employee who had the right stuff to become a supervisor. This woman was a single parent and a very hard worker. The increase would have been an extra $7,680 per year for her. She said she didn’t want the extra responsibility. Go figure.

    Then, of course, there is the category that everyone thinks they are in. We live in a society where not everyone can “make it happen”. There are many failures at the bottom of this group as those “watching” made an attempt or two to crossover this threshold. Balance is the key to success here. Anyone who has reached the right level of balance in their life has mastered this task of “making it happen.”

    What I mean by balance is fulfilling the right amount of quality with quantity. The right amount of drive with humility; skill with education and patience with love – this category houses all of your visionaries. This group did not need motivation – it was built from within. They didn’t need to be reinforced, complimented or validated. These folks are not conceited; they’re as good as they say they are.

    So I ask again, which one are you? And if you’re not satisfied with the outcome, change.

  • The Man in the Mirror

    Have you ever looked in the mirror and forget what you looked like? Seems strange, doesn’t it?

    I mean we see ourselves all the time and you would think there would be something wrong with a person who can’t remember what they look like, especially after just looking in the mirror.

    Well, the Bible tells of this condition where a person beholds himself in a mirror and immediately forgets what manner of man he is (James 1:23, 24). The Bible is comparing this mirror-looker to a person who hears God’s word and forgets about it.

    It’s interesting how God would make the spoken word so powerful. Someone who you give your trust to could give you a compliment and literally change a bad day into a good one. Unfortunately, the fence swings both ways so that a negative comment would have the converse effect.

    God never wanted us to be forgetful hearers.

    The truth is that we are. His Word was designed to spiritually turn us into the image of His son – if we would remember the things we heard from His Word.

    The Bible is full of folks who were forgetful hearers. Remember Cain and Abel? It was by faith that Abel offered a better sacrifice. It was because Cain was a forgetful hearer that God wouldn’t accept his offering. Two sons who grew up in the same household, with the same parents only to respond differently to what they heard is shocking, but not uncommon.

    Remember Jacob and Esau? That birthright really didn’t mean much to Esau who clearly lived his life in the moment. Jacob, on the other hand, paid close attention to such things and well, you know what happened: Jacob got the blessing and the birthright.

    Abraham and Lot also come to mind. I’m particularly thinking about when Abraham wanted to keep peace between Lot’s men and his own so he sought out territory for them to split in order to keep peace. He let Lot pick which area he would live and he chose Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s like choosing Las Vegas, NV over St. George, Utah. Nevertheless, Lot’s choice tore up his home and eventually ruined his life. Why did Lot choose Sodom? Was he just trying to make a fast buck or did he just forget what he heard?

    How many other people do you know who must have forgotten what they heard? You think Tiger Woods forgot? How about Lawrence Taylor? Or what about Jesse James (Sandra Bullock’s Ex), Chris Brown, George Bush, Allen Iverson or Congressmen Joe Wilson, do you think they forgot?

    Let’s get even more personal. What about me and you? It’s seems as though we are running out of excuses. We need to be the change we want to see, as Gandhi said. That will not happen until we began to take a long look at the man or woman in the mirror or as the Bible says spend a long time studying God’s Word. Until then, we just have no right to point fingers and complain. We need to get busy.

  • Relationship Builder

    So you started the New Year a little on the rocks with your significant other and now they’re gone. One or both of you finally realized that it was time to move on.  Now it’s over.

    You tell yourself that you are better without them. You start tossing out reminders of him, like pictures, various articles of clothing, some gifts (of course not any diamonds) and you quickly change your Facebook status to single.

    You are left with unfulfilled expectations and anger.

    Typically what happens at this point is that you say you want to be alone and you remind yourself that the next person would only be a rebound, but not too soon afterward you are smothering the rebound.

    You begin to take those stored “unfulfilled expectations” and assign them to the new partner. You quickly find out that you are instantly attracted to anything that was the opposite of your ex. For example, if the guy you were with never opened the door for you, then all of a sudden that quality is escalated because of the past. If you were with a woman who really couldn’t cook too well, you’d be all over the woman who could provide you with the southern comfort of food.

    The danger is that whatever the new quality is that you are coveting may not have been a quality that mattered to you originally. It only became important when your previous relationship ended. This relational baggage makes ordinary qualities greater, thus confusing your judgment and actually making you “rush” the relationship and not even be able to recognize true love anymore. I have a friend on Facebook who a month ago was “in a relationship”, then two weeks ago she was single. One week later she was “in a relationship” again and I called to ask if it was with the same person and she was so excited to tell me about this new guy and how wonderful he was. As of today, they are engaged!

    Now I’m not saying that I don’t believe in love at first sight or any of the other fairytales given to us as children. I’m not saying that Hollywood’s boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again stories aren’t true. What I am saying is that these situations are as rare as hitting the lottery, becoming a professional athlete, becoming the next American Idol or winning an Olympic gold medal. Oh sure you have seen it happen before and you know that it’s possible, but the question here is: Are these scenarios probable?

    Before you try to “hook up” with another, you must first exam yourself. You can’t be “two” if you (or the other person) are not ones.

    We often enter relationships broken, wounded and with baggage. We have high expectations and are afraid to fully give of ourselves. How many times have you seen a relationship where a couple is together, and the guy hasn’t been working since they hooked up. Nine months into the relationship and the guy still hasn’t found ANY work. Before he entered that relationship, he should have mastered the whole job/car/house/independence thing before trying to connect with another. And what of the man who meets a woman who needs more than just a companion? This woman needs a caretaker, lawyer, doctor, sugar daddy and butler – and she’s not afraid to ask for it! Every phone call leads to her asking him to do something for her. She should have worked out all those needs in the beginning, before trying to start a relationship.

    Building a relationship should not be rocket science. It should start off with hesitation and anticipation. There should be long periods of talking and sharing (which is how you actually build the relationship) and a lot of patience.

    Only fools rush in.

  • A Prayer for Mama

    I couldn’t let this holiday go by without remembering everyone’s favorite girl – Mom!

    This is one of the few things in life we all have in common. So in honor of Mother’s Day, let’s celebrate the person, the concept and the substitutes for the work that they have done, are doing and will do.

    To the good mothers who are deceased, we pray that your souls rest in peace until the coming of the Lord. Like the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 – “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The work that you have done and the legacies you have left behind will live in our hearts and minds for generations. Thank you and we will always love you.

    To the good mothers who are living the golden years, we pray that the God of heaven will continue to bless you with years. You hold a special place in our hearts because you are a constant icon of everything that represents the joys in our lives. When we were young it was you who outlasted the great depression and took the lessons learned from it and made sure that we had food, clothing and shelter. You survived WWII and showed us how to make a home, how to stay married and how to love unconditionally. You were able to do a lot with a little and for that, we are eternally grateful.

    To the good mothers who are still raising children, we pray that our Father in heaven will continue to give you the strength and patience to deal with all the “new age” problems facing children today. We thank you for listening. We thank you for the sacrifices. We thank you for not allowing a broken or dysfunctional home to be an excuse for not taking care of the children. We thank you for being able to provide for the family when dad is absent, unemployed or incarcerated. We thank you for being phenomenal women and we love you!

    To the new mothers and mothers to be, we thank you for enlisting in the greatest army of caretakers on the planet. We thank God that you choose to raise children. We thank you for your desire, example and love. We pray that God will give you healthy babies to love and good men to raise them with. We pray that life’s challenges and opportunities don’t sway you from your task. We pray that you take parenting to the next level and educate our kids for a brighter future. Thank you for carrying the torch!

    To the substitutes, step moms and grandmothers, you hold a special place in our hearts and we thank God for putting you right where you were needed. We thank you for bringing peace to troubled situations. We thank you for mending broken homes and relationships. We pray that God will continue to bless the work of your hands and for giving you such a big heart. We love you!

    To the bad mothers, we thank God for you because believe it or not you are exactly what it was going to take to make some folks do better. God used you in a mighty way to allow his grace and mercy to shine through. Despite the wounded souls left in your path, we honor God on this day because His will is perfect. Don’t wonder why you are alone on this day. Go mend the broken relationships. Allow for healing by allowing your heart to be soft toward your sins. Ask for forgiveness. The ones that are hurt have been waiting on it. Once you have learned your lessons, teach others.

  • True Revolution

    This past Friday marks the 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. I look back at that war and wonder what the history books will actually say happened.

    Will it say that we were invaders who tried to take control of another country’s commodities? Will it say that we are baby killers? Will it call our government a bunch of liars? Will it actually say that we lost that war?

    I remember being in my elementary school and junior high school social studies classes and we would spend much time talking and learning about the two world wars. I remember learning about war heroes who eventually became presidents, like George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant. I even remember hearing about the civil rights era and it was like they picked a figure (Martin Luther King Jr., or Rosa Parks), stuck with just their story and avoided all the other things surrounding those historical events – like the murders of Medgar Evers and Malcolm X.

    I wonder is there some council of editors who decide what should be written in our history books and what should be excluded? Is there another council that checks to make sure that what is written is not too offensive to the powers that be? Where is the censorship coming from? It seems as though the history books wait on the current events until most of those who would be offended or who are guilty, are at least too old to remember anything, dead, or just too old to be prosecuted.

    I thought about (when I was in the 5th grade) the John F. Kennedy assassination and for the longest time I couldn’t believe that one person was actually able to kill the leader of the free world so easily. Then once the internet got up and running, I was able to get some other perspectives. I remember thinking that the Kennedy family must have pissed off the wrong person back then. I even remember thinking that the mafia must have been behind all these murders. I thought that because I watched a lot of mobster films and Hollywood always had a way of making bad things look good. Al Capone was one of the coolest figures in history to me.

    I guess my point is this: There used to be such a thing as the power of the press.  In the 1700’s, Benjamin Franklin began a tradition in the newspaper business that set the tone for the industry. Corporations, politicians and organizations were kept honest because they knew shady practices would be questioned, statements would be checked for validity and any claims made would be investigated. Today, we tell the press what to print. I remember the horrible Fort Bragg shooting. If you recall the earliest reports, we were told that the shooter was dead. All media outlets reported the same thing. Later that evening, he was in the hospital in intensive care. How could this have happened?

    We need to be a society that cares. By caring I mean we need to literally give a damn about what is happening in our country. We need to get involved and question everything. The days of staying in the dark are over. We are actually smarter than 5th graders and we need to act like it. There are things going on in our nation that are suspect. We need to demand answers and hold leaders accountable.

    I’m not trying to sound like a tea bagger here. The difference is that they believe there was a time in our past where we had things under control and life was good. They actually think we were once in control of things and we dictated our direction.

    I am saying that we were never in control. There was never a time in history when America was “fair” to all people and we certainly never controlled the direction of the country. The revolution I’m calling for is new, active, open and real. It says that we need to decide first the type of country we want to be and then make every effort to be that country. And those that are opposed can go to … Canada?

  • Is there a resurrection for the dead?

    This week in my life was filled with death.

    Now it might sound strange for me to say that since I work in hospice, but my week was filled with death because two people that I personally knew died. And neither was over 60.

    I watched at one particular funeral as the people crowded around and some seemed to be really worried about the death. They seemed to be hopeless wondering how will they go on. You couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

    As I sat there watching everything I wondered if many of these people – who considered themselves Christians – believed that there truly is a resurrection for the people of God today.

    For Christians who profess their faith it seems that you should never see us hopeless. You should never see us discouraged. We should never allow ourselves to be in the position to allow our actions to deny that Christ has risen.

    Maybe it’s that everyone has a hard time applying the idea at a funeral that Christ lives and that our loved ones will live, too –  if they believe in Him.

    Who am I fooling?

    For America to profess a faith in Christianity, we sure don’t handle death well.

    We need a healthy dose of God’s word. Then we need to understand what it means and finally learn how to apply it.

    Let’s try it.

    In the 14th chapter of the book of Job, Job was lamenting to his three friends about his life. As many of you know, Job, in a very short period of time, was hit with tragedy. He was a rich man and lost all that he had – including his family and his health.

    His friends thought he had done something to anger God and he was being punished. Job insisted that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

    By the time you get to the 14th chapter, Job, in a very helpless state, wonders about what happens when a man dies. He said that there is hope for a tree (verse 7) because with his own eyes, he has seen a tree that had been cut down still grow.

    In Verse 14 Job says this: “If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes.”

    Now Job uttered these words with the hope that God would evoke a change in him after death.

    This, for him, was just a hope – because Job never got to hear John 3:16. In fact, Job never knew God as his father in heaven.

    That’s because the family relationship with us and God was a direct result of the finished work of Jesus on the cross. When he broke the bonds of sin and set the captive free, He established a new covenant with us which now saves us. This new covenant is sealed with the blood of Jesus and was in the mind of God before the foundation of the world.

    For Job to have never heard this and to still have a glimmer of hope is marvelous! This is why he was known for his patience.

    But to the people living on the resurrection side of Jesus, we need to tell the world about the Savior we serve and the very important fact that He has risen. The fact that he has risen brought teeth to this promise by Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

    Application: Jesus set us free from sin and this freedom is available to everyone who believes. With that said, if you are a child of God and happen to die (which is something we all will do until Jesus returns) at any age, you WILL live again. If this is not true and Christ is not risen, then our religion, my preaching and our faith tradition mean nothing.

    Death does not checkmate God’s promises to us!

  • Racism – is it really all just in our heads?

    Clyde is traveling in Nashville this week and asked me to “fill in” for him with a post about an article I ran across on MSNBC about children with a rare genetic disorder that causes them to ignore race and skin color. Learn more about what this unusual condition is teaching us about the origins of racism and gender stereotypes.

    Ann M. Richardson

    I read an article today about children born with a rare genetic disorder known as Williams syndrome that causes them to have a complete lack of social anxiety.

    An interesting by-product of this defect is that the children have no racial biases, according to a researcher from the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

    Normally, children show clear preferences for their own ethnic group by the age of three, or sooner, according to other research. In fact, children without the defect consistently associate positive traits (friendliness, kindness, etc.) to people that are the same race as themselves.

    When asked a negative question, “Which is the naughty boy?” children without Williams syndrome indicate that the naughty boy is the one from the “other” race.

    Williams syndrome is caused by the absence of a gene that affects the brain and other organs. People with this syndrome are “hypersocial,” meaning that they don’t experience the anxiety, nervousness, and self-consciousness that plague the rest of us – especially adolescents.

    Sounds like it would be great if we all had Williams syndrome, doesn’t it?

    Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a world where no one hated anyone just because of the color of their skin or their ethnic background? And no one got the jitters when they had to speak in front of a group of people?

    Sounds like utopia to me.

    But Williams syndrome does have some drawbacks.

    Kids with Williams syndrome (WS) will put themselves at risk to help someone else while giving no thought for their own safety. Despite considerable empathy for others, the disorder leaves them unable to process and assess what scientists call “social danger signals.”

    Or what I call a lack of plain old “street smarts.” The kind of wariness that tells you when to walk away (or even run) from a fight – or when “something just doesn’t feel right.”

    Not surprisingly, this lack of street smarts puts WS kids at greater risk for rape and physical assault.

    So is racism really “all in our heads?” Or is it all biological? And if it is biological, can we do anything about it?

    According to researcher Andreas Meyer-Lindenburg, WS kids may be missing critical genes, but:

    “We are not saying that this is all biologically-based and you can’t do anything about it [racial bias]. Just because there is a genetic way to knock the system out, does not mean the system itself is 100 percent genetic,” he said.

    The study shows that racism requires social fear. “If social fear was culturally reduced, racial stereotypes could also be reduced,” Meyer-Lindenberg said.

    Another interesting thing learned from this study: although children with Williams may lack street smarts, they do hold gender stereotypes just as strongly as normal children.

    Meyer-Lindenberg says that we now know that “gender and race are processed by different brain mechanisms,” Meyer-Lindenberg said. Other researchers have learned that in the brains of people with WS, the amygdala — where our emotions reside — fails to respond to social threats. While the amygdala is normal, it is misdirected by the pre-frontal cortex — the CEO of the brain — to block all social anxiety.

    Scientists theorize that this interaction in the brain affects racism, but it does not seem to play a role in the formation of gender stereotypes.

    Meyer-Lindenberg and his colleagues at the University of Heidelberg are using brain imaging to get a clearer picture of how racism and sexism are differentiated in the brain.

    The German study was published in the journal Current Biology.

    Click here to read the complete article I read on MSNBC.

    Clyde will return this Sunday – in the meantime, share your comments with me about this article.

    Let me know what you think:

    • Is racism due to nature or nurture? Do we learn it or is it biological?
    • If it is biological, can we do anything about it?
    • And what are the implications of this research? Will we soon have a”pill” available that eliminates racism?

  • Health care reform: A Start?

    The events of the past few weeks have made it very hard for me to be a proud American. But not for the reasons you may think!

    I’m still not sure how I feel about the health care reform. I know I was for the original draft. I’m still one of those guys who believe that just as our schools, fire and police departments and libraries function on a “universal” way of paying them – i.e., taxes. Our health care system would survive just fine if we adopted a plan similar to France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Canada or Great Britain.

    These do not all function on a “universal” platform, but what they all have in common is that they have stopped trying to make a profit off of someone else’s illness.

    All of these countries have fared well on the World Health Organization rankings for health care systems. We are a dismal 37 on that list. Is there no one else bothered by the fact that as great a country as this is, there are 36 other places in the world that have a better health care system than ours?

    When you compare a country’s health care system to ours – let’s use Greece for example – Greece has about as many doctors as we have pastors and priests. Medical school is free in Greece and of course you know that not only is medical school costly in America, but lobbyists have even sought to control the enrollment and federal funding for it here. Those in Greece live longer, have better access to preventative medication and don’t suffer the insurance “fights” we have to for coverage.

    It should be a crime in our country for someone to die only because our health care system failed them. It should be a crime that someone dies because we allowed an insurance company to refuse payment. And no one should die in our country because they couldn’t afford the cure.

    It seems that we have taken a hands off approach to health care in that, “if it doesn’t affect my family – oh well!”

    I was watching a local newscast in Detroit a few weeks ago and a Republican member of Congress mentioned that he was against the health care reform bill and later in the same conversation bragged of being a cancer survivor. The reporter conducting the interview challenged the congressman on his stance with the health care bill by saying, “It seems that you are one of the lucky ones. What if you couldn’t afford the cancer treatments? I guess then I’d be talking with someone else …”

    As I said earlier, I thought that I was for this bill. It started to change and even after reading and searching through the entire proposed reform bill – something we independents like to call research – it dawned on me that most of this bill doesn’t even go into affect until 2015!

    That’s a problem!

    It seems that there are many items that will “pop up” or take effect down the road long after we’ve forgotten about it. No explanation was given for this.

    And then, the president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield endorsed this bill.

    That’s a huge problem.

    Insurance companies (HMOs in particular) created this problem and have been the enemies since the 70’s. For Blue Cross and Blue Shield to give it the thumbs up, means something is wrong.

    And finally, the passage of this bill exposed the “ugliest” part of our capitalistic society. It showed that the men and women placed in Congress – by our votes – could be bought.

    Congress said things, did things and wasted many tax dollars to only get paid for their services through donations from the private sector. No one (Republicans or Democrats) has written any legislation to stop this madness. Why is it just “OK” for a senator to waste tax player money filibustering on a subject he really is out of touch with? Then after all is said and done, we find that said senator has received a generous donation from the industry he filibustered for.

    All in all, I believe that the health care reform bill is better than what we had. More Americans will receive health care coverage and the denials for preexisting conditions should eventually go away.

    With that said, before we can really make strides in our health care system, we must all first CARE.