Neighbors

You know, there used to be a time when neighbors knew each other.  Had cookouts together, chatted over the back fence every day, and fed half the neighborhood with each meal.  Now neighbors don't even know each other at all.  An entire town would come together to help people raise a barn, side a house, or build a deck.  It was all about community, about loving thy neighbor as thyself.  About reaching out a hand to those that needed it, without expecting a thing in return.  There wasn't the "me me me" mindset that we see so often today.
The recent healthcare reform debate has brought this mentality into sharp focus.  I cannot even tell you the number of times I have heard the phrase "Why should I have to pay for someone else?"  in the past month or so.  It's true with the healthcare reform, with taxes, with school levies.  "Why me?"  Well, why not you?  Why not reach out to those that are a little less fortunate than you, in the hopes that we can make America a better place?  Why don't more people volunteer?  Donate blood?  Vote "yes" in school levies to help with the budget?
Because the common way of thinking is "Well why should I have to do it?"  Lord knows when you yourself might need a meal provided for you, or health insurance that's guaranteed to cover your sick relative who could never afford his medication or chemotherapy or surgery or what have you without it.  People who'd literally die without insurance.  We are not promised tomorrow.  We do not know what's just around the bend, and it could just be you that needs those pints of blood.  It could be YOUR kids in a school that has to use old textbooks because yet another levy didn't pass.
The people of America need to come together.  We have heard it all our lives: "UNITED we stand, divided we FALL."  Yet so many don't live by this very simple principle.  Rich people are not guaranteed riches for life.  Insurance may run out.  You could lose your job.  Get cancer.  Need an operation.  Then you will need someone.  Perhaps many someones.  It's unfortunate that so many do not give without thinking about what they will get in return.  We need to live with a community worldview.  Your neighbor may not have the same color skin or even speak the same language, but at the end of the day we are all human beings.  We deserve to have the love and support of our fellow neighbors, even if we don't need it right at that moment.
We shouldn't have to choose between groceries and medication. 
I support the healthcare reform bill.  It's not perfect.  No bill is.  But it will help so many many people that need it the very most.  Including my two beautiful little ladies with zippers on their chests.
Complain about America all you want.  Gripe about the president, and how he has "done nothing"-a debate I will not even try to opine on  here, because it would take days.  If you don't like it here in America, well, you know how to leave.  Maybe you will find better neighbors somewhere else.  But only if you learn to be a better neighbor first.