Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-31and Luke 10:25-37
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go, and do likewise.”
On Tuesday, January nineteenth, 2010, the voters of Massachuseatts had a similar choice to thee three, and in partly voting as they did to block progress on The Health Care for all Bill, they chose to pass “‘by on the other side.’”
Now, it is in a way understandable to make such a choice. The man was probably bleeding and messy and who knows what diseases, then and now, could have been caught through touching him? Similarly, Health Care for all may mean health care for people with diseases others might not want to get near, and certainly even absent that change is not without risk. The current bills may have unforeseen consequences and may cost a bit to implement, and there is a worldwide economic slow down right now. BUT, many of those who oppose acting on this problem also claim that we are a Christian Nation and rail against what they see as threats to that. But the biggest threat to a Christian Nation and life is not following the words of Jesus Christ. No vote is a foregone conclusion at this point, and if enough people choose compassion over fear and rise up and demand action on this Humanitarian Crisis, Congress will have to listen and act. Some say this is being rushed. Perhaps they haven’t been paying attention for the past seventeen years, because we’ve been talking about this since 1993 if not before. The time for talk is over, the time for action is now. So, if we are truly a Christian Nation, let us rise up and demand that as a congress and as a country, we follow the words of Jesus to the man who replied “the one who had mercy on him” and “Go, and do likewise.”
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Dialogue Over Diatribes
LETTER IN RESPONSE TO NIGHTLINE’S CLOSING ARGUMENT ON FRIDAY, AUGUST SEVENTH, 2009.
QUESTION: WERE THE PROTESTERS AT HEALTH CARE REFORM RALLIES THAT SHOUT SO LOUD ABOUT NO REFORM OR EVEN PROGRESS THAT NO ACTUAL DIALOGUE CAN EVEN TAKE PLACE ORGANIZED FROM THE HIGHER UPS OF THE RANKS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OR TRULY GRASS ROOTS?
ANSWER: THEY WERE ORGANIZED FROM THE HIGHER UPS OF THE RANKS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. THIS IS THE U.S.A., PEOPLE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PROTEST, BUT SINCE THE BILLS HAD AT THAT POINT AT MOST BEEN WRITTEN A WEEK AND ARE I’M SURE EACH SEVERAL HUNDRED PAGES LONG, NO ONE OUTSIDE OF CONGRESS COULD POSSIBLY HAVE READ THEM ALL OR EVEN MOST OF EITHER YET. PEOPLE WERE REACTING TO THE DELIBERATE MISINFORMATION PUT OUT THERE BY THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY BUREAUCRATS.
MAYBE THE THEN CURRENT PROPOSALS AND NOW ON THURSDAY, APRIL FOURTEENTH, 2011, ACTUAL LAW ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT LET US DISCUSS THEM IN A CIVIL MANNER RATHER THAN SHOUTING “NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE POOR! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THOSE WITH PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE CRITICALLY ILL! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE SELF EMPLOYED!” SO LOUDLY THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN EVEN BE HEARD. WE’RE A NATION OF LAWS, NOT OF MOB RULE, SO LET THE MOBS BE CIVIL AND MAYBE WE CAN GET SOMETHING DONE. NOW, IF ANY OF THESE PEOPLE WATCHED ANY NEWS CASTER OTHER THAN BILL ORYLEE THEY WOULD KNOW THAT IF THEY ARE SATISFIED WITH THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY THEY WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP IT UNDER ALL PROPOSALS THEN CURRENTLY IN DISCUSSION AND NOW ACTUAL LAW, BUT OF COURSE BILL ORILLEE AND HIS ILK WILL INSIST ON SAYING THAT EVERYTHING BEING PROPOSED IS A CANADA STYLE SYSTEM, WHICH IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.
AS SOMEONE WHO HAS A PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITION, I AM UNABLE TO GET PRIVATE COVERAGE UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM, ALTHOUGH IN TEXAS WHERE I LIVE THERE IS A LAW REQUIRING PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES, OR AT LEAST ONE, TO GIVE COVERAGE UNDER WHAT IS CALLED THE RISK POOL, BUT THIS LAW ALSO REQUIRES THAT MY PREMIUM BE AT LEAST TWICE AS MUCH AS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COMPARABLE PRIVATE COVERAGE, WHICH FOR ME PERSONALLY IS MANAGEABLE BUT FOR MANY TEXANS IS NOT. SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS MAKING PRIVATE COMPANIES UNABLE BY LAW TO DENY COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS, WHICH IN MY CASE IS GETTING HIT BY A CAR WHEN I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD, A CONDITION WHICH AT THIRTY-FIVE HAS MOST DEFINITELY NOT PROVED IN NEED OF ONGOING MEDICAL TREATMENT IN MY CASE, MIGHT BE SUFFICIENT, BUT A PUBLIC OPTION MIGHT ALSO HAVE WORKED. FOR ONE THING, A PUBLIC OPTION WOULD HAVE GIVEN PEOPE LIKE ME A PLACE TO GO IF PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES FOUND A WAY TO GO BACK TO THEIR OLD TRICKS, WHICHWOULD SIMPLY HAVE ENSURED THAT THEY DID NOT DO SO.
ANYONE WHO IS ON MEDICARE, MEDICAID OR IS A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE ALREADY HAS GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE, AND I DO NOT HEAR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS COMPLAINING ABOUT HAVING THEIR CHOICE OF DOCTORS LIMITED, ANOTHER LIE THAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND ITS CONSERVATIVE ALLIES/LACKIES IN CONGRESS HAD PUT OUT THERE. THAT IS OF COURSE A LARGE PART OF THE PROBLEM, REALLY, THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY, BECAUSE WHEN WE’RE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVES AND HEALTH, THE BUSINESS MODEL IS THE WRONG MODEL. BUSINESS PEOPLE THINK IN TERMS OF WHAT WILL MAKE MONEY, WHEN IN HEALTH CARE THE CONCERN SHOULD BE MAKING PEOPLE HEALTHY WHEN THEY SUFFER FROM INJURY OR ILLNESS, OR PREVENTING ILLNESS IN THE FIRST PLACE, SO THE BUSINESS MODEL IS CLEARLY THE WRONG MODEL IN THIS INSTANCE. NOW, OF COURSE, THE BUSINESSMEN THAT RUN HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL NOT LIKE HEARING THIS, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND IF THERE HAD BEEN A PUBLIC OPTION THEN THEY COULD HAVE KEPT ONLY COVERING THE PEOPLE THAT WILL MAKE THEM RICHER ANDS LET THE GOVERNMENT TAKE CARE OF THOSE OF US WHO AT SOME POINT THERE IS AT LEAST A SLIGHTLY ELEVATED RISK MIGHT SOMEDAY NEED SOME KIND OF MEDICAL TREATMENT.
BUT THE POINT IS, THERE IS/WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY, EVERYONE KNOWS THERE IS/WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY, AND IF WE JUST TALK ABOUT IT CIVILLY WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO SOLVE IT, WHILE IF PEOPLE KEEP SHOWING UP AT RALLIES AND NOW EVENTS PROTESTING THE NEW LAW THAT GIVES EVERY AMERICAN, EVEN THOSE OF US WITH PREEXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS, ACHANCE AT DECENT, AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE, AND BEHAVING LIKE BARBARIANS BY SHOUTING SO LOUDLY THAT NO INTELLIGENT DISCUSSION CAN BE HAD, WE MAY GET NORTHING OR WE MAY GET SOMETHING BUT IT MAY NOT BE AS GOOD AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN IF ALL SIDES HAD HAD INTELLIGENT AND CIVIL INPUT, AND NOW THOSE OF US WITH PREEXISTING CODITIONS MAY GET A WIFF OF JUSTICE IN HEALTH CARE ONLY TO HAVE IT SNATCHED AWAY BEFORE WE EVEN TASTE IT IF WE'RE ADULTS AND WHEN WE'VE BARELY TASTED IT IF WE'RE MINORS. IF ANY OF THESE ORAL THUGS READ THIS, I CHALLENGE THEM TO PROVE THEIR COURAGE BY BEHAVING IN A CIVIL MANNER AND ENGAGING IN DIALOGUE AT THESE MEETINGS AND EVENTS RATHER THAN ORAL THUGGARY AND ENCOURAGING THEIR COMPANIONS TO DO THE SAME, BECAUSE SHOUTING SO LOUD THAT NO VIEW BUT ONE’S OWN CAN BE HEARD IS ONLY A SIGN OF COWARDICE, SO ANY WHO READ OR HEAR THIS AND JUST KEEP SHOUTING ARE COWARDS, AND I CHALLENGE THEM TO PROVE THAT THEY ARE NOT COWARDS.
SINCERELY,
MATTHEW L. BECKETT
FREE LANCE FICTION WRITER AND FOUNDER AND C.E.O. OF TRIPLE-BLADE PICTURES AND avoiceinthewilderness-wildvoicenet.blogspot.com AND THUS THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS IN THIS AND OTHER MATTERS.
QUESTION: WERE THE PROTESTERS AT HEALTH CARE REFORM RALLIES THAT SHOUT SO LOUD ABOUT NO REFORM OR EVEN PROGRESS THAT NO ACTUAL DIALOGUE CAN EVEN TAKE PLACE ORGANIZED FROM THE HIGHER UPS OF THE RANKS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OR TRULY GRASS ROOTS?
ANSWER: THEY WERE ORGANIZED FROM THE HIGHER UPS OF THE RANKS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. THIS IS THE U.S.A., PEOPLE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PROTEST, BUT SINCE THE BILLS HAD AT THAT POINT AT MOST BEEN WRITTEN A WEEK AND ARE I’M SURE EACH SEVERAL HUNDRED PAGES LONG, NO ONE OUTSIDE OF CONGRESS COULD POSSIBLY HAVE READ THEM ALL OR EVEN MOST OF EITHER YET. PEOPLE WERE REACTING TO THE DELIBERATE MISINFORMATION PUT OUT THERE BY THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY BUREAUCRATS.
MAYBE THE THEN CURRENT PROPOSALS AND NOW ON THURSDAY, APRIL FOURTEENTH, 2011, ACTUAL LAW ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT LET US DISCUSS THEM IN A CIVIL MANNER RATHER THAN SHOUTING “NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE POOR! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THOSE WITH PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE CRITICALLY ILL! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE SELF EMPLOYED!” SO LOUDLY THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN EVEN BE HEARD. WE’RE A NATION OF LAWS, NOT OF MOB RULE, SO LET THE MOBS BE CIVIL AND MAYBE WE CAN GET SOMETHING DONE. NOW, IF ANY OF THESE PEOPLE WATCHED ANY NEWS CASTER OTHER THAN BILL ORYLEE THEY WOULD KNOW THAT IF THEY ARE SATISFIED WITH THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY THEY WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP IT UNDER ALL PROPOSALS THEN CURRENTLY IN DISCUSSION AND NOW ACTUAL LAW, BUT OF COURSE BILL ORILLEE AND HIS ILK WILL INSIST ON SAYING THAT EVERYTHING BEING PROPOSED IS A CANADA STYLE SYSTEM, WHICH IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.
AS SOMEONE WHO HAS A PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITION, I AM UNABLE TO GET PRIVATE COVERAGE UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM, ALTHOUGH IN TEXAS WHERE I LIVE THERE IS A LAW REQUIRING PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES, OR AT LEAST ONE, TO GIVE COVERAGE UNDER WHAT IS CALLED THE RISK POOL, BUT THIS LAW ALSO REQUIRES THAT MY PREMIUM BE AT LEAST TWICE AS MUCH AS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COMPARABLE PRIVATE COVERAGE, WHICH FOR ME PERSONALLY IS MANAGEABLE BUT FOR MANY TEXANS IS NOT. SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS MAKING PRIVATE COMPANIES UNABLE BY LAW TO DENY COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS, WHICH IN MY CASE IS GETTING HIT BY A CAR WHEN I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD, A CONDITION WHICH AT THIRTY-FIVE HAS MOST DEFINITELY NOT PROVED IN NEED OF ONGOING MEDICAL TREATMENT IN MY CASE, MIGHT BE SUFFICIENT, BUT A PUBLIC OPTION MIGHT ALSO HAVE WORKED. FOR ONE THING, A PUBLIC OPTION WOULD HAVE GIVEN PEOPE LIKE ME A PLACE TO GO IF PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES FOUND A WAY TO GO BACK TO THEIR OLD TRICKS, WHICHWOULD SIMPLY HAVE ENSURED THAT THEY DID NOT DO SO.
ANYONE WHO IS ON MEDICARE, MEDICAID OR IS A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE ALREADY HAS GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE, AND I DO NOT HEAR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS COMPLAINING ABOUT HAVING THEIR CHOICE OF DOCTORS LIMITED, ANOTHER LIE THAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND ITS CONSERVATIVE ALLIES/LACKIES IN CONGRESS HAD PUT OUT THERE. THAT IS OF COURSE A LARGE PART OF THE PROBLEM, REALLY, THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY, BECAUSE WHEN WE’RE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVES AND HEALTH, THE BUSINESS MODEL IS THE WRONG MODEL. BUSINESS PEOPLE THINK IN TERMS OF WHAT WILL MAKE MONEY, WHEN IN HEALTH CARE THE CONCERN SHOULD BE MAKING PEOPLE HEALTHY WHEN THEY SUFFER FROM INJURY OR ILLNESS, OR PREVENTING ILLNESS IN THE FIRST PLACE, SO THE BUSINESS MODEL IS CLEARLY THE WRONG MODEL IN THIS INSTANCE. NOW, OF COURSE, THE BUSINESSMEN THAT RUN HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL NOT LIKE HEARING THIS, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND IF THERE HAD BEEN A PUBLIC OPTION THEN THEY COULD HAVE KEPT ONLY COVERING THE PEOPLE THAT WILL MAKE THEM RICHER ANDS LET THE GOVERNMENT TAKE CARE OF THOSE OF US WHO AT SOME POINT THERE IS AT LEAST A SLIGHTLY ELEVATED RISK MIGHT SOMEDAY NEED SOME KIND OF MEDICAL TREATMENT.
BUT THE POINT IS, THERE IS/WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY, EVERYONE KNOWS THERE IS/WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY, AND IF WE JUST TALK ABOUT IT CIVILLY WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO SOLVE IT, WHILE IF PEOPLE KEEP SHOWING UP AT RALLIES AND NOW EVENTS PROTESTING THE NEW LAW THAT GIVES EVERY AMERICAN, EVEN THOSE OF US WITH PREEXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS, ACHANCE AT DECENT, AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE, AND BEHAVING LIKE BARBARIANS BY SHOUTING SO LOUDLY THAT NO INTELLIGENT DISCUSSION CAN BE HAD, WE MAY GET NORTHING OR WE MAY GET SOMETHING BUT IT MAY NOT BE AS GOOD AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN IF ALL SIDES HAD HAD INTELLIGENT AND CIVIL INPUT, AND NOW THOSE OF US WITH PREEXISTING CODITIONS MAY GET A WIFF OF JUSTICE IN HEALTH CARE ONLY TO HAVE IT SNATCHED AWAY BEFORE WE EVEN TASTE IT IF WE'RE ADULTS AND WHEN WE'VE BARELY TASTED IT IF WE'RE MINORS. IF ANY OF THESE ORAL THUGS READ THIS, I CHALLENGE THEM TO PROVE THEIR COURAGE BY BEHAVING IN A CIVIL MANNER AND ENGAGING IN DIALOGUE AT THESE MEETINGS AND EVENTS RATHER THAN ORAL THUGGARY AND ENCOURAGING THEIR COMPANIONS TO DO THE SAME, BECAUSE SHOUTING SO LOUD THAT NO VIEW BUT ONE’S OWN CAN BE HEARD IS ONLY A SIGN OF COWARDICE, SO ANY WHO READ OR HEAR THIS AND JUST KEEP SHOUTING ARE COWARDS, AND I CHALLENGE THEM TO PROVE THAT THEY ARE NOT COWARDS.
SINCERELY,
MATTHEW L. BECKETT
FREE LANCE FICTION WRITER AND FOUNDER AND C.E.O. OF TRIPLE-BLADE PICTURES AND avoiceinthewilderness-wildvoicenet.blogspot.com AND THUS THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS IN THIS AND OTHER MATTERS.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
"LET MY PEOPLE GO!" The Conservative House of Bondage
THIS COUNTRY'S CREED IS 'EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW', SO LET'S LIVE UP TO OUR CREED IN HEALTH CARE, HOUSING, FOOD AND ELSEWHERE. OR WE CAN CONTINUE TO BE LIKE THE FOLLOWING:
LET MY PEOPLE GO:
THE CONSERVATIVE HOUSE OF BONDAGE.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
“Move, slave,” says John Boehner, as he cracks the whip across my back. “If you ever want to see a doctor, you'd better finish building my new chair of power fast.”
“Yes, Master,” I reply, for I do need to see a doctor soon about my flu like symptoms, but since I have a preexisting health condition and am over eighteen, my only option is to be The Speaker of The House's slave until he sees fit to give me a doctor visit, since the job I did before becoming his slave did not pay enough for me to pay for the treatment I need out of pocket.
“If I could just have a morsel of food,” I hear one of my fellow slaves say. “I haven't eaten in three days. I don't have the strength. . .”
“You'll find the strength unless you want to go another week without food,” snarls Kay Baily Hutchison from behind her. “You lazy, worthless. . .”
“All right, that's enough Kay,” says my master, who is of course also the head of the whole Republican Palace Building Operation. “It's no use blaming a dog for being a dog.”
My blood boils at this remark. None of us are dogs. We're simply people who have preexisting health conditions, or environmental pollution triggered health conditions, or cannot at the moment totally provide for our own needs as far as food and clothing and shelter go, or have a disability that makes us unable to completely take care of ourselves, or who happen to be Homo-or-Bi-Sexual, whom The Conservative Majority have deemed unworthy of being in society at large, gathered, and brought all here to build their Conservative Palace to give them a life of ease while we all work as their slaves for the occasional nugget of decency that they may throw at us if they choose. However, my flu is worsening, so I really need that medicine, and so I keep my thoughts to myself.
“Did someone tell you to quit working!” I feel the whip crack hard across my back, and reel, but quickly recover and get back to work, working double time to make up the seconds lost to my musings, for if I slow down the work overall, ,I will only get my medicine when I'm at death's door, if then, if ever.
We all work until the sun has set and no one can see any more, since it is a new moon and the stars are obscured by clouds.
Then I receive my injection, as brutal and unpleasant as they can make it, and a warning. “Get lost in thought gain tomorrow, and there will be no more treatment at all, and when your belly is totally empty, you'll die. Now, go fetch the water and be quick about it. And don't spill any again,or else,” the medical technician calls out the last as I walk towards the distant well with an empty bucket, for I did stumble in the pitch black night and spill a fourth of the full to the brim bucket last night.
As I near the well, however, I behold a strange sight. The well seems to be on fire, yet the flames that engulf it do not destroy. I take a step back, uncertain, when a Voice comes from it.
“Matthew, Son of James, Approach,” it says.
I obey, uncertain what this means, although from a vague and distant past long before my enslavement, I have a vague sense that this should be familiar. When I near, I look at the burning well uncertainly.
“Set down your bucket and remove your tennis shoes and socks,” says the Voice. “You stand on sacred ground.”
I obey, knowing that this is familiar, yet my pre-slave life is so distant now I still cannot place it.
“I have heard your cries,” says the Voice. “I have heard the cries of the uninsured and under-insured, of the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, the planet and of the outcasts. I AM The GOD of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, The Prophets and The Line of David, who came to the world in The Man Jesus Christ. I shall deliver my people from this House of Bondage, this Conservative House of Bondage, as from The Egyptian House of Bondage of old. Leave your bucket here along with your footwear, go to your Pharaoh, John Boehner, announce yourself MY Messenger and tell him that I have said, once again,”LET MY PEOPLE GO!”.
I do as instructed. “And HE says “LET MY PEOPLE GO!” I conclude.
The Speaker of The House is so incensed by this pronouncement, that he seizes a rifle from a nearby guard and points it at me. Suddenly, though, he screams as the rifle and the arm holding it catch fire. At the same moment, the chains that bind all of us snap and fall away. Then The Voice Speaks for all to hear.
“I have told you again and again to treat the less fortunate in all walks of life and in all ways less fortunate well, and not to judge one another, but to leave that to ME. But you have stubbornly refused to hear these words, preferring instead to focus on minor phrases of MY BOOK which you incorrectly interpret to condone the judging of others, ignoring the overall call for Justice to those in need in all ways and love for all. Therefore, I loose the bonds of those you had made your slaves and now put you under their judgment. Whatever they decide your fate should be, it shall be, for they have endured brutality and inhumane treatment at your hands for so long, justice demands they be at least given a say in your fate.”
Our enslavers tremble in terror as we, their former slaves, gather to discuss their fate. After much argument, conversation and discussion, we come to a unanimous decision, and I am appointed to pronounce our verdict.
“You have denied the right of those of us with preexisting health conditions to have the opportunity to shop around for a competitive rate for decent, affordable health insurance,” I begin, and they tremble even more, which I cannot deny brings s slight, inner smile. “You have sought to deny those unable to get a private school education any kind of quality education. You have worked to undermine any and all efforts to save this planet from the ecological catastrophe that now seems inevitable. You have sought to starve and parch to death, let die of exposure without shelter or clothing, let die of treatable disease and rot alone in prison whether guilty or innocent, those most vulnerable in society, and you have sought to deny the very right to exist any of what you consider 'abnormal' sexual orientation.” I can see the fear in all of their eyes and think I even see a damp patch on a few pairs of pants, and I can;t deny some satisfaction in the sights. “Therefore,” I conclude, and the tension in the room is palpable. “We have decided. . .” I pause as long as I can, wanting them to feel our sweat of many years and for many reasons, just a little bit longer. At last the moment has no choice but to come. “To forgive you for everything and let you go as you choose.”
“You have chosen well,” says The Voice of THE LORD. “For no mortal should make such a judgment of another.”
“Then I judge myself,” says one of the old guards, and before any can react puts her gun in her mouth and eats a bullet.
“Yes. For all that we have done, we must be punished,,” says a high ranking former oppressor.
“Your self condemnation now that you have seen the error of your ways is punishment enough,” I say, and mean it.
A few more cannot stand the sudden realization of how wrong they were about everything and take their own lives, but most over time find a way to adapt to the new understanding of reality in which all people are free to be who we each and all are, a unique Child of GOD, lovingly and wonderfully made in HIS Image and each with something to offer to HIM and to each other. AMEN.
WE CAN BE LIKE THE ABOVE, UNWORTHY OF THE TITLE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.
LET MY PEOPLE GO:
THE CONSERVATIVE HOUSE OF BONDAGE.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
“Move, slave,” says John Boehner, as he cracks the whip across my back. “If you ever want to see a doctor, you'd better finish building my new chair of power fast.”
“Yes, Master,” I reply, for I do need to see a doctor soon about my flu like symptoms, but since I have a preexisting health condition and am over eighteen, my only option is to be The Speaker of The House's slave until he sees fit to give me a doctor visit, since the job I did before becoming his slave did not pay enough for me to pay for the treatment I need out of pocket.
“If I could just have a morsel of food,” I hear one of my fellow slaves say. “I haven't eaten in three days. I don't have the strength. . .”
“You'll find the strength unless you want to go another week without food,” snarls Kay Baily Hutchison from behind her. “You lazy, worthless. . .”
“All right, that's enough Kay,” says my master, who is of course also the head of the whole Republican Palace Building Operation. “It's no use blaming a dog for being a dog.”
My blood boils at this remark. None of us are dogs. We're simply people who have preexisting health conditions, or environmental pollution triggered health conditions, or cannot at the moment totally provide for our own needs as far as food and clothing and shelter go, or have a disability that makes us unable to completely take care of ourselves, or who happen to be Homo-or-Bi-Sexual, whom The Conservative Majority have deemed unworthy of being in society at large, gathered, and brought all here to build their Conservative Palace to give them a life of ease while we all work as their slaves for the occasional nugget of decency that they may throw at us if they choose. However, my flu is worsening, so I really need that medicine, and so I keep my thoughts to myself.
“Did someone tell you to quit working!” I feel the whip crack hard across my back, and reel, but quickly recover and get back to work, working double time to make up the seconds lost to my musings, for if I slow down the work overall, ,I will only get my medicine when I'm at death's door, if then, if ever.
We all work until the sun has set and no one can see any more, since it is a new moon and the stars are obscured by clouds.
Then I receive my injection, as brutal and unpleasant as they can make it, and a warning. “Get lost in thought gain tomorrow, and there will be no more treatment at all, and when your belly is totally empty, you'll die. Now, go fetch the water and be quick about it. And don't spill any again,or else,” the medical technician calls out the last as I walk towards the distant well with an empty bucket, for I did stumble in the pitch black night and spill a fourth of the full to the brim bucket last night.
As I near the well, however, I behold a strange sight. The well seems to be on fire, yet the flames that engulf it do not destroy. I take a step back, uncertain, when a Voice comes from it.
“Matthew, Son of James, Approach,” it says.
I obey, uncertain what this means, although from a vague and distant past long before my enslavement, I have a vague sense that this should be familiar. When I near, I look at the burning well uncertainly.
“Set down your bucket and remove your tennis shoes and socks,” says the Voice. “You stand on sacred ground.”
I obey, knowing that this is familiar, yet my pre-slave life is so distant now I still cannot place it.
“I have heard your cries,” says the Voice. “I have heard the cries of the uninsured and under-insured, of the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, the planet and of the outcasts. I AM The GOD of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, The Prophets and The Line of David, who came to the world in The Man Jesus Christ. I shall deliver my people from this House of Bondage, this Conservative House of Bondage, as from The Egyptian House of Bondage of old. Leave your bucket here along with your footwear, go to your Pharaoh, John Boehner, announce yourself MY Messenger and tell him that I have said, once again,”LET MY PEOPLE GO!”.
I do as instructed. “And HE says “LET MY PEOPLE GO!” I conclude.
The Speaker of The House is so incensed by this pronouncement, that he seizes a rifle from a nearby guard and points it at me. Suddenly, though, he screams as the rifle and the arm holding it catch fire. At the same moment, the chains that bind all of us snap and fall away. Then The Voice Speaks for all to hear.
“I have told you again and again to treat the less fortunate in all walks of life and in all ways less fortunate well, and not to judge one another, but to leave that to ME. But you have stubbornly refused to hear these words, preferring instead to focus on minor phrases of MY BOOK which you incorrectly interpret to condone the judging of others, ignoring the overall call for Justice to those in need in all ways and love for all. Therefore, I loose the bonds of those you had made your slaves and now put you under their judgment. Whatever they decide your fate should be, it shall be, for they have endured brutality and inhumane treatment at your hands for so long, justice demands they be at least given a say in your fate.”
Our enslavers tremble in terror as we, their former slaves, gather to discuss their fate. After much argument, conversation and discussion, we come to a unanimous decision, and I am appointed to pronounce our verdict.
“You have denied the right of those of us with preexisting health conditions to have the opportunity to shop around for a competitive rate for decent, affordable health insurance,” I begin, and they tremble even more, which I cannot deny brings s slight, inner smile. “You have sought to deny those unable to get a private school education any kind of quality education. You have worked to undermine any and all efforts to save this planet from the ecological catastrophe that now seems inevitable. You have sought to starve and parch to death, let die of exposure without shelter or clothing, let die of treatable disease and rot alone in prison whether guilty or innocent, those most vulnerable in society, and you have sought to deny the very right to exist any of what you consider 'abnormal' sexual orientation.” I can see the fear in all of their eyes and think I even see a damp patch on a few pairs of pants, and I can;t deny some satisfaction in the sights. “Therefore,” I conclude, and the tension in the room is palpable. “We have decided. . .” I pause as long as I can, wanting them to feel our sweat of many years and for many reasons, just a little bit longer. At last the moment has no choice but to come. “To forgive you for everything and let you go as you choose.”
“You have chosen well,” says The Voice of THE LORD. “For no mortal should make such a judgment of another.”
“Then I judge myself,” says one of the old guards, and before any can react puts her gun in her mouth and eats a bullet.
“Yes. For all that we have done, we must be punished,,” says a high ranking former oppressor.
“Your self condemnation now that you have seen the error of your ways is punishment enough,” I say, and mean it.
A few more cannot stand the sudden realization of how wrong they were about everything and take their own lives, but most over time find a way to adapt to the new understanding of reality in which all people are free to be who we each and all are, a unique Child of GOD, lovingly and wonderfully made in HIS Image and each with something to offer to HIM and to each other. AMEN.
WE CAN BE LIKE THE ABOVE, UNWORTHY OF THE TITLE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Texas Legislature Says, 'Keep Poor Kids In Their Place'
KEEP THEM IN THEIR PLACE.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
In the basement of The Texas State Capital, the Republican Legislators met in a closed door, emergency session.
“How could there have been more than eleven thousand people rallying to stop school closings?” asked one. “Our plans depend on this.”
“Yes,” said another. “And more importantly, how do we counter this apparent movement against the core of our agenda? This is much bigger and much more important than simply saving money now for the short term well being of the state, as important as that is.”
“Yes,” said The Speaker of The Texas House. “The whole future depends on this. We need large class sizes, overworked teachers and administrators in the public schools to ensure our economic future. The children that come from families that mean they really deserve a quality education can afford private schools.”
“Agreed,” said The Majority Leader. “We don't want the children of middle and certainly lower class families to start getting upity ideas in their heads. How will we keep them where they belong, underfoot, if they get too well educated. I mean, they should know their place in society, but if a high quality education fills their inferior heads with too many 'Liberal' ideas about equality and social advancement, we'll lose our seudo servants. So, what do we do about these rallies?”
“Putting out information suggesting they have a socialist agenda has had some effect, so we should keep that up,” said a newly elected member.
“And counter rallies are also good to keep up,” said a young page.
“Yes, but we must do more to ensure victory,” said The Speaker.
“We could send notices to our richest contributors, reminding them that a well educated underclass will be bad for their lifestyles and urging them to act against this movement,,” said an older legislative aid.
“And we can call on our allies in Washington to do what they can at the national level to defund education and make it easier for us to do so,” said another young page.
“Did you just say the word 'defund'” said The Majority Leader of The Texas Senate as all eyes turned on the the young man and he took several steps back at what was in those eyes.
“We NEVER use that word aloud,” said another high ranking Texas State Senator. “There could be people listening. Do you know what a word like that getting out there as having come from this group could do?”
“Sss...sss....sorry,” stammered the terrified young man. “It www...www...won't happen again.”
“See that it does not,” said The Speaker. There was no need to say 'or else' for his tone left no doubt of the threat.
“We could also start some rumors among our constituents about well educated underclass people already beginning to get foolish ideas about equality and upward social mobility,,” suggested another member of The Texas House.
“And some of those would have some fact to them,” added a State Senator.
“Yes,” said The Majority Whip for The Texas House. “I have heard of several cases of that of late, and we must put a stop to it before it gets out of hand.”
“Yes,” said The Speaker. “We don't want our rich friends' lifestyles disrupted, so let's get on all of this and more. After all, we can't have poor and middle class kids getting the same quality education as rich kids if we are to keep the former in their proper place.”
“Yes,” said The State Senate Majority Leader. “And we absolutely must keep them in their place.”
“Here, here,” said everyone else, raising air cups of chamaign and then drinking deeply from the imaginary cups.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
In the basement of The Texas State Capital, the Republican Legislators met in a closed door, emergency session.
“How could there have been more than eleven thousand people rallying to stop school closings?” asked one. “Our plans depend on this.”
“Yes,” said another. “And more importantly, how do we counter this apparent movement against the core of our agenda? This is much bigger and much more important than simply saving money now for the short term well being of the state, as important as that is.”
“Yes,” said The Speaker of The Texas House. “The whole future depends on this. We need large class sizes, overworked teachers and administrators in the public schools to ensure our economic future. The children that come from families that mean they really deserve a quality education can afford private schools.”
“Agreed,” said The Majority Leader. “We don't want the children of middle and certainly lower class families to start getting upity ideas in their heads. How will we keep them where they belong, underfoot, if they get too well educated. I mean, they should know their place in society, but if a high quality education fills their inferior heads with too many 'Liberal' ideas about equality and social advancement, we'll lose our seudo servants. So, what do we do about these rallies?”
“Putting out information suggesting they have a socialist agenda has had some effect, so we should keep that up,” said a newly elected member.
“And counter rallies are also good to keep up,” said a young page.
“Yes, but we must do more to ensure victory,” said The Speaker.
“We could send notices to our richest contributors, reminding them that a well educated underclass will be bad for their lifestyles and urging them to act against this movement,,” said an older legislative aid.
“And we can call on our allies in Washington to do what they can at the national level to defund education and make it easier for us to do so,” said another young page.
“Did you just say the word 'defund'” said The Majority Leader of The Texas Senate as all eyes turned on the the young man and he took several steps back at what was in those eyes.
“We NEVER use that word aloud,” said another high ranking Texas State Senator. “There could be people listening. Do you know what a word like that getting out there as having come from this group could do?”
“Sss...sss....sorry,” stammered the terrified young man. “It www...www...won't happen again.”
“See that it does not,” said The Speaker. There was no need to say 'or else' for his tone left no doubt of the threat.
“We could also start some rumors among our constituents about well educated underclass people already beginning to get foolish ideas about equality and upward social mobility,,” suggested another member of The Texas House.
“And some of those would have some fact to them,” added a State Senator.
“Yes,” said The Majority Whip for The Texas House. “I have heard of several cases of that of late, and we must put a stop to it before it gets out of hand.”
“Yes,” said The Speaker. “We don't want our rich friends' lifestyles disrupted, so let's get on all of this and more. After all, we can't have poor and middle class kids getting the same quality education as rich kids if we are to keep the former in their proper place.”
“Yes,” said The State Senate Majority Leader. “And we absolutely must keep them in their place.”
“Here, here,” said everyone else, raising air cups of chamaign and then drinking deeply from the imaginary cups.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)