Reading our small town Colorado newspaper is often an exercise in frustration. I never imagined an editorial staff could be as conservative as my old South Carolina daily, whose idea of being fair and balanced is to run a George Will column next to Cal Thomas. The Colorado Mountain Mail is a couple of shades to the right of my old paper, and has harangued its readers with doom and gloom and negative predictions ever since Obama was elected. I stopped reading the letters-to-the-editor because it depressed me so that these were my neighbors writing this stuff.
Today, I was blown away by the beauty of a simple plea on health care by yes, a local preacher. Maybe this message can reach some on the other side and shame them into doing the right thing. For those of you who have jaundiced views of preachers and all things church because of the actions of self-righteous Bible-thumpers, it might be a welcome surprise that some clergy really do walk the walk.
Dear Editor,
"Health Care is a social justice issue. How a country cares for its most vulnerable citizens is also a profoundly spiritual matter that is deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian faith and many other religions as well. It is important that all faith communities speak out. Reverend Mike Orrill First Presbyterian Church
He continues on, inviting the community to come to a four-week course concerning social justice in the context of health reform. This is the same church that has a soup kitchen every week that feeds whoever shows up, and many outreach programs to help those less-fortunate in our community. They quietly go about the business of charity and loving your neighbor.
My husband has been having a discourse with a "friend" about this same issue, and wrote this as a final rebuttal to all the old arguments:
I was a big fan of Ayn Rand once, as well. It works so well in an ideal society where self interest is naturally altruistic. Health care is not a commodity, it should be a basic right in a wealthy, industrialized society. It is in all the others. The cost of doing nothing is far more expensive over time than taking action now. I would like to advance the argument to a higher plane, where it properly belongs. How a country, state, county, city, neighborhood & household deal with the poor, hungry and sick is a profoundly spiritual matter, crossing religious lines; it is a matter of humanity, of conscience, of morality, and is truly a social justice issue. How the right wing proselytizers love to use faith based initiatives when it suits them, and deny the fundamental teachings of Christ when it does not. The hypocrisy is astounding.
I am hoping that approaching the health care debate as a spiritual issue, a "what would Jesus do?" question, might change some hearts and minds.