The True Legacy

There was always that nagging feeling he had failed in so many different ways. The king had feared the possibility of recognizing his strengths and successes and the complacency that might come of it. So much worry compounded by his concern that he never really measured up to his father, who was also very much beloved by the people. Both men were selfless and caring, giving everything they had to the betterment of the kingdom. Both men were endowed with an incredible desire to serve.

Some say this all-consuming worry was probably the cause of the illness that took the once vibrant and strong man and destroyed his physical frame, leaving him bed-ridden and frail. As he lay in his deathbed, moments of lucidity were nearly overwhelmed with bouts of confusion highlighted with mostly indiscernible ramblings. When these mumblings could be understood the context was difficult to decipher.

The queen spent her days attending to the needs of her king. The prince took on much of the responsibilities of the kingdom, though he too was hardly found far from his father’s bed. The illness was drawn out. Eventually, the king was overcome and passed away.

Of course, the land grieved the loss of such a man. There were many who thought to send condolences to the family. The funeral was held in the fashion of the land, many remembering the great deeds of their lost king. The king’s children each shared many of their memories. Almost all who spoke suggested this king was greatest among rulers for his care of his people. They all agreed that all were blessed for knowing him. He served his people without any concern for self, stretching all available resources beyond what most thought possible. Many commented that this great king would not have thought such a spectacle over his life necessary. Indeed, he would have preferred that energy focused toward more productive activities. His dying wishes asked that instead of flowers at his funeral, people would do an act of service instead. Failing that, a donation to humanitarian charities should suffice.

The king was buried with generations of great men and women, where anyone looking at the monuments could be reminded of their great deeds.

With the ceremonies and gathering done, the prince was still consumed with grief. His memories of his father provided comfort but such was fleeting. Although the Prince knew many who had died, he realized he had only this once grieved. The prince spent his days helping manage the affairs of the kingdom but all around him knew of his grief. He seldom laughed like he used to. His wit hardly ever brought forth the mirth people knew.

One day after the evening meal, the prince had excused himself to the upper garden seeking to be alone with his thoughts. He wished to remember some things of his father and make plans for helping some of the less fortunate. The king was a man of service and that is what made him the happiest. So, the prince was trying his best to follow in these great footprints.

Although he thought he was alone, there came a visitor who wanted to help the prince feel better. The visitor was the country’s preeminent singer. Stepping forward, the rustling of her steps drew the prince’s attention to her.

“Why are you here?” demanded the prince. He wished to be left alone and found the intrusion bordering on treason. Certainly is was not but these were his feelings anyway. The prince in his grief had lost much of the charity that made his father the great man he was.

The Singer retreated a little at such brashness but said in a strong voice, “I’ve come to sing for you. You have forgotten something about your father.”

“I’ve not forgotten my father. He is why I am who I am. No. Be gone with you.”

“Your country suffers while you waste your time here. The world crumbles though you busy yourself thinking to protect it,” the singer pleaded. “Although you think to live your life as your father did, you’ve forgotten what truly made the king, Our King.”

“If I relent and allow you to sing, will you leave me alone?”

As an answer to the prince’s question, the singer began her song. Her voice was incredibly fine, cutting to the very center of the prince’s soul.

Almost immediately the artist seemed to take on another’s countenance. This visage was that of a very young girl, though her voice continued to be the same. The girl whose clothes were worn to near rags looked hungry, her eyes held a wisdom revealing a life already heaving with turmoil and grief. Though otherwise quite clean, she had a little soot on the end of her nose and a bandaged wrist. The song seemed to tell of a youngster living a meager existence with little hope of even attending school until someone recognized her needs and helped her family.

The song changed a little, whether it was a slight decrease in tempo or a change in key the prince did not recognize. The performer’s voice still as clear as it was from the start, seemed to take on a heavier tone. The little girl was gone replaced by a young boy, a couple years her senior. The boy wore a school uniform and had a look that suggested he was from a family of some substance. He stood there looking a little self-conscious. The song continued to tell of a boy whose family played a high stakes game with their wealth. When the father lost everything he fell into a deep depression from which he never recovered, ultimately leaving the boy an orphan. The boy, having never known want, was left with nothing. He was scared. The verse continued to explain the boy was reunited with a long ago lost relative who took the boy in as his own.

Again, the song’s tone moved a little different and the boy was gone, replaced by a young woman who was wrapped in a blanket. Something terribly wrong had happened to this poor girl. Her faced was bruised and she held herself as if she were sore all over. The blanket almost covered her but the prince could see her clothes had been torn. The verse explained how the girl had been abused by someone who should have loved her. She was alone in the world and needed some support and a new beginning. This someone did that for her and she was able to get back to school and start a new chapter in her life without the baggage of her past.

As the song continued the young woman was gone, replaced by an elderly man in a chair, too feeble to stand. This was a lonesome time for a man whose lifetime of experience seemed to shine and sparkle through his gray eyes. The canto continued to explain how this man’s life seemed to drag on endlessly in complete loneliness. Telling of how someone came to him and asked a simple question. Since the answer was not so simple, his gray eyes had a twinkle of pride and usefulness that was not there before.

In the final verse, the man was replaced by a lost soul whose whole world was encompassed in a small glass pipe. The addiction destroyed everything the person had, leaving him empty as soon as the contents in the pipe were consumed. Living his life to pursue that addiction, this was an empty soul until someone found a way to unlock the trap.

As she finished her song, she resumed her original visage and turned to leave. The prince stood speechless with tears streaming down his cheeks. His father knew there were people that needed to be helped. That help took the form of many different shapes and sizes. He was freed a little from his grief and was able to focus on finding the individual rather than the cause. The king hadn’t failed at all.

The Way of "Public Options"

I have been worried a little about the “public option” the Obama administration has been pushing to include in the Health Care reform now making its way through both houses. The administration is claiming such things as increased competition and reducing costs as a reason for needing the government to take on the role of insurer. First, the government is already fully vested in insuring millions of people. There is a very large constituency who have a large stake in keeping the status quo as far as the government’s health care. They are the retired population who utilizes the system we know as Medicare.

Let’s take a moment and look at something a little unassociated with the current debates going on in Washington about the Health Care reform. Student Loans. The student loan program started back in 1965. It was a private/public partnership. In the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL, pronounced fell) the banks would loan money to students who would pay them back. The Federal Government would reimburse the banks for up to 97% of defaulted loans. That is a simple way to put it. Oh, I left out something many in Washington want everyone to remember. The Government took on the bad leaving the good (and the profits) to the banks. That too is a little over simplified.

So, in 1993, congress created an alternative to the banks. Students would cut out the middle man and borrow directly from the Federal Government. The excuse at the time was that the banks needed to have another source of competition. This was the way to reduce the cost to borrowers while increasing profits to the Government, who was insuring all the loans anyway.

Enter the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA). The house passed the bill the week of September 18, eliminating the private sector’s role in federal student loans altogether. If this bill passes the senate, the approximately 4,500 colleges and universities that are currently signed up for FFEL will have to abandon the program and start using the direct-loan option by July 1, 2010.

Now, is there a parallel between the government’s involvement in health care and the way the student loan programs have gone? I don’t know but there is an eerie familiarity to the argument for a “public option”.

This morning I got another message from Moveon.org requesting my money. Yeah, that is another thing I always like to read about in my inbox. In any case, they’ve created a new advertisement that suggests the “public option” is all about making it more competitive. An organization that is all about social medicine is arguing the lesser offense of a “public option” for health care that would stimulate competition.

I do not believe everyone arguing for a public option is seeing it as the gateway into a more socialized system. Some do, however.

The “public option” is considered by some the most important part of the Health Care legislation. Many, like the Moveon.org organization, are more interested in moving on a larger agenda that can benefit from a “public option”. I don't see the “public option” as truly beneficial to the citizens as a whole. Do you? Let me know what you think.

Boycott a News Network?

You know I got myself on this mailing list. It was an accident, completely unintentional. Really. Moveon.org likes to send me things. They’re always looking for me to jump on the band wagon, sign petitions, contact my congressman and senators. It’s serious when I get a message from them. No, really serious and always urgent. Everything must be addressed today. Do not wait!! It was one of these messages I got this morning.

I guess President Obama has called for a boycott of Fox news. I have a hard time believing this but it is true. The man is concerned enough with what Fox has to say that he doesn’t want anyone to listen to the message.

I don’t remember ever hearing a past president take the time to call for such a silly effort in all my life. OK. There are sillier things. I don’t know if you remember when Natalie Holloway disappeared and there was some pressure for the Bush administration to something about it. His response, "My daddy hated broccoli and I'm gonna hate arugula. I don't see how this is gonna help find Natalie but my crack staff tells me it's the right thing to do. Ya'll let me know if this works because I'm just looking for a reason to boycott navy beans and beets. Did I ever tell you of the time I ate some beets and the next day my stools made me think I had a colon problem?" the President said. Now that is silly.

Still, President Obama is calling out the entire news network because of what a few commentators have allegedly done by attacking his nationalization of the health care system. No, I’m sorry. He isn’t trying to nationalize the health care system. His administration is just trying to get a better grasp on Health Care for all Americans. It is certainly considered a human right by many. Since it is considered a human right, then it is imperative we make health care available to all people. In any case, the White House communications director said FOX is a "wing of the Republican Party...let's not pretend they're a news network."

Let me see. FOX is a “wing of the Republican Party”? I don’t subscribe to this belief. Concerning the claim that they aren’t a news network I’d like to suggest a couple little points we should all consider. Brit Hume and Chris Wallace. Two members of the news staff at FOX. Two very good examples of what Journalism should be. Two members of the journalistic world that used to work for ABC and NBC respectively. While they spent a portion of their careers in the “real network news” they were both considered exceptional journalists. What happened?
I have watched NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX national news. I would suggest that none of the other networks can put anyone up against the experience either of these two men bring to the table. “Unbiased reporting of the news” is a fine descriptor of Brit Hume’s reporting style. Incredibly, I would be hard pressed to find any other reporter on today’s national stage that can match Mr. Hume.

The Democrats don’t like FOX. OK, I understand. There, on the FOX news channel, they won’t find many friends opining. President Bush and the Republicans would have been hard pressed to find a friendly opinion on any of the other networks. I do not recall any such call for action from the past administration that matches this call from the White House to stop listening to a valid news source.

I open myself to your best. Fillet me for my opinion. I’m ready. Still, it is quite silly to call for such an effort. Moveon.org has grabbed a hold of this bandwagon and is rushing to put some weight behind it.

This is a change in which I refuse to believe. Please, tell me why I am wrong.