Or, “Why should I post anything when there’s nothing new to report?”
That’s not the most enticing title I’ve ever come up with, but I’m feeling a little down. The doctor called this morning to let me know that they needed a $500 deposit before my procedure next Tuesday. This is the reality of health care in this country. I’m fortunate; I have the best insurance my company offers but even then, very little beyond office visits is covered until I’ve spent $3,000 out-of-pocket.
You roll in the cost of insurance and, yeah, $10,000 year seems about right. Again, I’m fortunate: I can afford it and still eat. For what it’s worth, these expenditures per capita include the cost of the single-payer systems, so I think it’s reasonably clear that there’s no reason to believe that the United States has “the best health care system in the world.” Just the most expensive.
Oh, and minimum wage, which was supposed to be a living wage, would bring in a gross income of $14,500 or so working 40 hours a week. So, if you’re wondering why the clerk at the store has a hoarse voice, is sneezing uncontrollably, or walks with a limp, they probably had to choose between getting health care and eating.
Geez, I didn’t mean to go off, but I’m not going to lie, I was feeling pretty down this morning. There’s been a lot of that. Money’s tight, obviously. We’re seeing temperatures in the 105-108 range, so doing things out of doors is problematic. COVID-19 is back with a vengeance (and by that I mean “it never went away”); I know more people infected now than I have at any point of the pandemic. It is a good thing that Nicole and I get on so well because we’re not going anywhere these days.
Here’s a serious question: Is it better to devote oneself to One Good Cause or to try to pitch in and help out where you can? I see folks working at sea turtle rescue centers, or trying to make workplaces less dangerous for endangered people, or even trying to reform the political system. Things like that. Things that don’t pay at all well and require a certain single-mindedness, a passion, a devotion. I sometimes think “I ought to be doing something like that,” but I also find myself thinking “You’re stretched so thin already and things are so precarious in this increasingly mad world; just try to be there when people need help.”
To be honest, this is more of a hypothetical question than anything. More likely to inspire introspection than action. I just see a certain, enviable, clarity of purpose in drawing the line and saying “Yeah, the world may be fucked, but I’m going to do everything within my power to make sure these endangered creatures have a chance.” I get that. Part of me wants to do it; part of me says I’d wind up hating whatever it was that I was trying to do and it would take a decade to find joy in it again, regardless of what “it” was.
Why yes, I’m mostly just talking to myself tonight.
I feel diminished today. Several (metaphorical) boulders rolled downhill and took a(n equally metaphorical) chunk out of me. But, things are looking up. As I sit here, hunched over the keyboard in my robe, Nicole brought me a couple of tiny waffles with blueberries in them and slices of strawberry on them. At the end of the day (against all odds, not a metaphor in this case), maybe things are looking up.
G’night,
-RK