Celebrating how he is

This young man, I would guess of about 12 or 13, stood holding his sign at a rally for health care today. I was drawn to his gravity, his uprightness. I don't know what brought him to the rally, but it is clear to me that he understood vividly what's at stake. It must seem insane that people in the USA have to stand out in the rain having rallies to urge people to provide healthcare for everyone in the country. It must seem insane that one of the main causes of homelessness is illness that results in people spending all their money to survive and losing their housing. It must seem insane that health care in this country is more expensive than the same health care anywhere else in the world. 

It is insane.

I am over 65, so I qualify for Medicare, and if that were not true, I wouldn't still be alive now. I saw my general practitioner this morning, and she ordered some steriod cream for the rash and said we need to forget about re-starting the monitor, as the contact dermatitis is so severe that it won't heal for a couple of weeks, even with the steroid cream. The monitor recorded 8 days of 24-hour heart activity, and that will be enough, added to the stress echocardiogram I will have on Monday, the 21st. 

None of this--the cream, the doctor visits, the heart monitor (for which I will still have to pay a whopping "co-payment" that may be more than I have)--none of it would be possible if I were 64 instead of 74. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want Medicare for everyone. So do I. And so do a number of physicians, nurses, and medical care givers who attended this rally. And so does this young man.