4th of July

I could go on and on about the state of our political affairs in the US right now, but really what good would it do? Actions always speak louder than words and so I'm not going to sit here and complain about how frustrated I am as an american and how embarrassed I am about my government. What I need is to be part of a solution. I saw the movie Sicko last night and it depressed the hell out of me. How is it possible that we as a country have allowed our people to go so long without healthcare while other developed democracies offer universal healthcare? It's really shameful that we as a nation have not been able to come up with some kind of plan to aid all of our citizens. Honestly my first impulse after watching the movie was to leave the country. It's actually something I've toyed with for many years, but now it almost feels important to live outside of this country if I'm to live a healthy life! We deserve a quality of life that, unless you're wealthy or "gainfully" employed, is unavailable to the majority of folk. As a musician, a self-employed citizen of this country, I have no insurance unless I pay for it out of my own pocket. And even then, what I can afford is for catastrophic insurance, which means I pay a lot out of pocket in the hopes nothing terrible happens to me. It's frightening and causes undue stress that shouldn't have to be there. How can this be changed? What can I do to help change this?

Today I'm going on a walk with my friend Joan. She is the reason I am doing the hike with the Laukemia and Lymphoma Society. She told me yesterday that her brother was diagnosed two weeks ago with a blood cancer and that his prognosis is not good. I feel so sad for her and her family. She is now going to hike for her brother, while I hike for her. Now it feels more important than ever to raise the funds necessary to do this hike (http://www.active.com/donate/hfdsvmb/hfdkparra). The more money that can be raised the more research can be done to find cures for all of these diseases and cancers. Despite all of this sadness and frustration with the world, I continue to have hope. I refuse to let go of the hope that our world can improve, that we can improve as human beings. Underneath all of the terror, violence and greed we still have humanity--somewhere underneath it all. I guess I better start digging...