BACK FROM THE BRINK

         As many of you have heard, two weeks ago, I suffered a massive heart attack.  With so much heart damage, blocked arteries, etc., things did not look good.  A priest gave me the last rites and the family stood watch not knowing which way things would go that Sunday and into Monday.  Then, gradually I got better and now two weeks later I am home and working on a recovery program. 

         The main reason I am writing this – besides letting people know first-hand how I am doing – is to share my takeaways from this experience in case it may be helpful to others going through the same experience.

         First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to get another chance at life, that most precious of gifts which we all tend to take for granted until it is deeply threatened.  One of the nurses in the cardiac care unit, knowing what I had been through, put it best when she said: “God clearly has something more for this patient to do.”  I believe that and I want to spend a lot of more time listening and paying attention to what God has in mind.

         Secondly, I got a renewed appreciation of the incredible family I have – my wonderful wife of 45 years, Brigitte, and my sons, John and Andrew.  The love and care they showed me, and one another, during these past two weeks was extraordinary.  I hope never to take them or family for granted again.

         Next, my relatives, friends, and former colleagues.  The outpouring of genuine love and concern was deeply touching and humbling, reminding me again of how lucky I have been over the years to have such quality people grace my life.  There were so many visitors that at one point a nurse asked my wife:  “Is this guy a Senator or something?”  In addition to the visitors, many people sent messages expressing their concern and offering prayers and best wishes.   In particular, I want to mention my Jesuit colleagues – current and former Jesuits – whose bonds of friendship were forged more than a half century ago and still remain as strong as ever.  The same is true for some of my former colleagues at the FAA.  It was a deeply satisfying reminder that in this throwaway society some good things really do last.

 

          Last but certainly not least, I have gained a deeper appreciation of health care providers – doctors, nurses, and technicians.  The care I received at Fairfax Inova Hospital – a mere seven minutes from home – was nothing short of extraordinary.  A special tip of the hat to the nurses who do the dirty work and provide the unheralded but critical care for patients around the clock.  I can say unequivocally, without the slightest bit of hesitation, that Nurse Ratchett is dead.  Or at least she would never make it at Fairfax Inova Hospital.

 

         My hospital experience also deepened my conviction of the need for a universal health care system.  It saddens me to think that the kind of care I received is out of the question and out of reach for so many of my fellow .Americans.  They have no choice but to die.  That’s deeply wrong and this country must so something to correct that injustice.  I intend to do what I can as a private citizen to help promote that cause.

         Finally, to so many of you out there on Facebook and other social media who sent best wishes and prayers, I can’t thank you enough.  I would like to acknowledge each one of you personally, but as I am sure you understand that is not possible.

         So, to sum up, what is my overriding takeaway from this experience?  I’d say all in all it was a really good couple of weeks.

Jerry

             HAS THE HOUSE GOP FINALLY 
                            SNAPPED?

         Watching the Tea Party led House of Representatives defeat one bill after another in its effort to roll back the New Deal, the Fair Deal, or block any Obama Deal brings to mind the oft-quoted comment an unnamed U.S. major reportedly made during the Vietnam War.  The major reportedly told correspondence Peter Arnett of a Vietnam provincial capital that had been bombed: “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”

         If that’s not its aim, it’s hard to figure out what the House Republican caucus is up to.  From the outside, it appears they are trying to dismantle the current framework of economic and social policies that date back to the 1930s and which have been supported by Democratic and Republican Presidents alike since then.  Examples include programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other programs that provide a basic hunger safety net for the poor and disadvantaged, to cite just one category.  To Tea Party advocates, it appears that any government programs to help the poor are considered “socialist” programs that have no place in our (their) society.

         Yet, SNAP has been an integral part of any Farm Bill passed by the Congress for the past 80 years, and by general consensus it has been highly successful, as columnist Melinda Henneberger points out in the July 12^th Washington Post.   Basically, she reports experts as saying it has kept the bottom from falling out from underneath the people living on the margins of our society.  Yet, the House recently passed a Farm Bill without the SNAP provisions.  Go figure.

         In the process of targeting the “socialist” programs that many Tea Party supporters and other right-wing Republicans believe create a country of dependency, they are also destroying the traditional GOP as we know it: A GOP that actually worked with Democrats to get the people’s business done.

         On immigration, for example, conservative columnist David Brooks writes in the July 12^th New York Times that if the House fails to pass the Senate’s immigration bill:  “This could be a tragedy for the country and political suicide for Republicans, especially because the conservative arguments against the comprehensive approach are not compelling.  After all, the Senate bill fulfills the four biggest conservative objectives.”  These include economic growth, reducing the debt, reducing illegal immigration, and avoiding a European-style demographic collapse.

   

         Another conservative New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat, writes in his column titled “The Farm Bill and the Common Good:  “… (W)ithout a vision of the common good, a party is basically just a faction, seeking only the interests of its constituents, with no sense of its responsibilities to the country as a whole. And the Obama-era Republican Party’s worst tendency has been toward just this sort of factionalism: Not an ideological extremism, exactly, but rather a vision of government that you might call “small government for thee, but not for me,” in which conservatism is just constituent services for the most reliable Republican groups and voters.”

         With conservative columnists writing such columns, I as a liberal Democrat should be gleeful watching the opposition party implode, but history provides ample evidence that it never serves the greater good when one party, in a two party system, loses its way.

Jerry