black…MYstory

This has long been one of my favorite sayings. It helps me keep things in perspective and realize that what I have is not all about how good I am at what I do or how bad someone else is at something. Often, what we (don’t) have is more a function of circumstances than our personal worth as a human being.

I look at my son and am thankful that, when he’s sick, we can take him to one of the best pediatric practices in the city. We’re not rich by any stretch of the imagination but, my I do have good medical coverage through my job. So, when I see parents having to take chances with their children’s health, I say “there, but for the grace of God, go I.”

Right now, 1 in 4 children in America are without health care. This number has risen under Bush. I can’t really blame the parents here. We are talking about the children of the working poor who have to choose between visits to the doctor or visits to the grocery store. So, what we have, when you look at kids who are totally uninsured, those who are uninsured part of the year and those who simply can’t get a ride to the doctor puts us at 23 million children not receiving proper health care.

We could fix it. If we were willing to commit $60 billion dollars, we could “add 9 million people to CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program), plus dental and mental health benefits and transportation.” In other words, if we spent 12% of the total Iraq war funding ($500 billion and counting) on our own children here, we could work to save the lives of U.S. kids.

For a government made up of such pro-life people, the don’t really give a damn about kids once they make it out of the womb.

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