Medical and Old Age

At a time when a person should be able to relax from the intensity of life and the complication of figuring it all out, along comes prescriptions, insurance, medicare and a truckload of forms and letters with 'lawyer speak' explaining what should or should not be done. Any attempt to call a responsible party requires a day of your time playing phone tag and waiting for that call that is bound to come at supper time. Such are the problems of growing old and dealing with the medical side of things.

They don't give out college courses to explain all this so a person could learn it while their mind is fresh and quick. No! It comes at at time when everything is slowing down. There are still children to advise, grandchildren to play with, deductions to consider, shelter to consider, getting help with repairs that use to be easy. It comes at a time when people are just not agile enough to deal with it properly. I for one do not feel like debating over the phone with someone who I know is going to win in the end, because I will get tired. The end result will be me paying and them getting a monthly premium.

What do I need and what can I do without? Good question. I will let you answer it. NO! You don't get off that easy. You have to make a decision and live with it or .... you know. The bad part is you don't get to be around to know if you got it right or not. Did you leave a mess for your most loved to deal with or did you leave them worry free. Yeah, right... in this day and age.

So we have some good days and bad days. We know we are slipping down hill physically and like a vulture the hospital waits to soak up what ever assets you have. Then they will send you home, perhaps all in one piece except for the pieces they took away never to be seen again. Gloomy! Sure it is and it should not be that way. BUT as long as we got politicians making medical decisions and the bottom line is the main thing for the big medical companies, that is how it will be. The days of compassion for patients is long gone except in the hearts of a few professional medical people who care.

Tell me I am wrong. I could live with that. I am not inexperienced in firsthand contact with hospitals and the medical side of things. Truth is I wouldn't feel like telling you the details and sadly no one in authority will ask.

Guatemala

It is the land of the once powerful Mayan people. Descendants still live and work the land. It is mostly a poor land, now, so far as the economy goes but it is rich in beauty. It is formed from upheaval of the earth's crust and is still shaken by earthquakes. Well, that is the best information I have been able to gather anyway.

My way of giving back when I got my disability was to sponsor a little girl in that country. My hope is that in some small way, it will help this one little girl grow up healthy and help give her the little things a little girl needs in life. I color pictures for her and she draws pictures for me. In my short story Mother's Coat, I had to do a lot of research and found almost more than I could handle about the plight of children in the world. So what was to be a long story had to be cut short because it made me physically ill to write it. I cannot stand the thought of a child going to bed hungry but they do. I cannot stand the thought of a child sleeping on the street but they do. It is good when a kind person takes a child off the street but wouldn't it be wonderful if we could do something to keep that child off the street in the first place? We can. Not the whole wide world but one child.

Well, I'm not bragging about what I do. It is too little and much too late. It has, however, brought me closer to a little country called Guatemala. I still can't spell it without looking and I probably will never speak their language. Love has no language barrier, neither does hunger.

There are lots of organizations you can go to, to sponsor a child. I use Compassion International. You can find others on television and the Internet. If you sponsor, do some research and pick an organization with a good rep and stable management. At least, that is what I recommend.

Compassion

A lot can be said about the need for compassion. I heard a preacher talking about it over the weekend. People don't talk much about the little things they do to help others. Many go out of their way to quietly help someone without wanting or expecting any praise or earthly reward. It is as simple as seeing the need and sharing. It is heart warming to know that my fellow citizens are such giving people. We are not bound by border crossings or political inclinations. A child is a child where ever you find them. Hunger is painful where ever it exist. People do not have to take away from their family or move mountains. A small deed or gift on a consistent basis can make a tremendous difference in some one's life. Child sponsorship is a good way to help someone grow up to be a better person. It takes away some of the child's pain if they live in a very poor area. I feel that going to an elderly person's house and cooking them an occasional meal is a good way to show that one cares. It doesn't cost much and the elderly persons or person can just sit and talk and then enjoy a good wholesome meal. A package of some household item that people on a fixed income might run out of toward the end of the month is another way to show compassion and to make a good friend. Just call and ask are you out of anything, I know it is getting close to the end of the month and your check does not come for another week or two. I do not like throwing money out there to large organizations and paying a bunch of salaries. There are cases where it takes a large organization to cross borders and deal with officials and I support that. But there are things one can do close to home that really only takes a little money and time. Perhaps giving is the way to pull us out of this time of trouble. Anyway I just wanted to kick the subject around. Maybe pennies could be better used in helping another person than sitting in a jar. It cost between $25 and $32 to sponsor a child. It cost about $10 to prepare a healthy meal. A package of tissue cost around $6 or $7 dollars. See. That ain't too hard.