"Sicko"

Micheal Moore has a new movie called 'Sicko' that is out now and it is about the healthcare industry, namely why it is so expensive, the reasons for that, and what we shoud do about it. Let me first say that I haven't even seen the movie but I saw Moore on Hardball with Chris Matthews the other night and he was fielding questions from the audience that raised excellent points. Secondly, I don't think you really need to see the movie to understand that there is something wrong with our healthcare system. Nearly every other "industrialized" country in the world has some sort of healthcare system that allows everyone to have free healthcare, not based on citizenship, race, or class but because they are a human being. The U.S. is the only country that still has a healthcare system based on making money-sure the hospital staff is nice, and so is the insurance person you talk to on the phone, but they are getting your money why wouldn't they be nice? Now I know the argument about how in other countries they pay so much higher taxes and thats how it is paid for, but I'm not sure that after adding my insurance premiums and the part they conveniently don't pay (deductables, copays) for that we are paying less. And then theres the argument about being about to choose your own doctors. But don't all doctors have to pass medical board exams, making all of them qualified? Perhaps the boards should be made harder to pass so that all we have is good doctors, so we don't need to worry about 'not choosing our own doctors.' Of all people I was shocked to find Moore actually using the what would Jesus do argument when dealing with healthcare. So, what would Jesus do? Would he reject someone healthcare because they weren't an American? Or because they couldn't afford it? In fact Jesus didn't charge anything for healing people of their illnesses. He tells the woman with the issue of blood in Matthew that it was her faith that healed her. So the dilemma I am having is seeing and understanding the stories and works of a God I worship, who healed people and casted out demons. Jesus did these things not because those people deserved it, but because he loved them, as he loved and still loves all people. And then I comparing them to our current healthcare system. Sure you can have great healthcare, if you can afford it. Healthcare needs to be afordable for all people, however that can be achieved.

Irresistible Revolution.....

I am reading this book aptly named, Irresitible Revolution, by a guy named Shane Claiborne. Shane is originally from East Tennessee and grew up in the burbs and in a church outside of Knoxville down there - a past many of us can relate to. However, Shane took a drastically different direction with his life after High School. He has lived with lepers in Calcutta with Mother Teresa before her passing, lived in the verdant suburbs of south Chicago, organized protests from Wall Street to D.C. on an array of different topics and now he lives as a homeless person in a community called the simple way in Philadelphia. He has dredlocks, makes his own clothes, and farms his own food (yes in downtown Philadelphia!). He is what I would call a modern day John the Baptist type figure. His book is a book that essentially poses the question, "What if Jesus really meant what he said in the bible?" What if Jesus meant what he said when he told the rich young ruler in Matthew that he must sell everything he owns in order to inherit the Kingdom of God. Or, what about when Jesus said in order to follow me you must deny yourself and take up your cross? Or, the fact that Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, more than once assumed the role of a servant in order to make the point that this is how one should lead. What would our foreign policy look like if we took turned the other cheek? Or our healthcare system if we really want to provide for the poor? In light of scripture, what would Jesus say about the 'American Dream?' I think that the main point that Shane makes is not anything groundbreaking because the Gospel has been around for a long time. But I do think that he serves as a neccesary force to urge us to rethink how we do religion. What would Jesus say if he saw himself on a commercialized t-shirt that said "Jesus is my homeboy." Would it be better to buy a new stainglass window for 120,000 or give that to the poor and needy (an actual story from the book). What would Jesus have done? What about that new car? Can anyone really justify the need for an 80,000 dollar car except as for a status symbol? A very thought provoking book, that I encourage everyone to read.......I'm only halfway through, more when I finish.

So recently I came into ownership of a new Sony cyber shot camera so I am going to post my latest attempts at amateur photography....more to come soon

Kentucky

I have lived in Kentucky for almost a year now. It is a beautiful state with much creation to admire. However, the longer I live here, the more resentment I here from the 'natives.' That is, those who have been born and raised here. This is a picture I took about a mile from our house. This is also the former Kentucky. Untill the late 1990s, Kentucky was one of the Nation's largest tobacco producers. Then big tobacco was finally forced to admit that their products kill people, and they had to pay billions in payouts. This meant that thy didn't buy as much tobacco from the local farmers, including thousands of Kentuckians. So the government made an arrangement to pay for all the surplus tobacco so that many farmers would not fall into poverty. The only problem was that this payout didn't cover farms less than 200 acres, which left a lot of people out. I have several members in my church who are in this group of people who, because they did not have large commercial farms, were left out of the settlement. Many of these people had to either quit farming all together or plant something new (many have gone to corn). Big tobacco still makes big money, at the expense of small time farmers, and alot of distrust and resentment has been bred into future generations because of it. Sorry to be depressing, just an observation of events below the surface.

...A Road Less Traveled....

If you are reading this, you have somehow stumbled onto my blog. Well, welcome however it is that you came to see this.

The title? Yes I know, it's a Robert Frost poem but I wanted to create a blog that honors what I think are the most defining events in a person's life. It's never the "normal" decisions that we make that seem to make the most difference in our lives. Many times it is when we take "the road less traveled" that set the most defining moments in our life into play. People have called it luck, destiny, karma and the list goes on. I like to think that God is the one who sets these events into play. So heres to you following God's plan for you life and choosing the road less traveled.