Healthcare Reform ... one more time

The status quo is the real time bomb in this entire equation. The democrats (and some Republicans) have put in a very valiant year long effort in assembling a 'better way' - and I both applaud and support them for that. The country needs this 'shot in the arm' for a multitude of reasons. Will it hurt and cause some discomfort? Of course it will. But it will save our country's moral and fiscal life. Doing the right thing is so often difficult, so often unpopular, but we know that we must. We can tweak it later, but we simply can not now fail. Way too many lives are at stake here, and everyone knows that. It's time to move forward. There's really nothing left to talk about. Get it done!

an open mind ...

... An open mind ... is one that has greatness ... as it's potential.

Mostly ...

... Certainly not all, but mostly ... my life is a storehouse of memories these days. No matter that I dream ... of future trips to God's creations still in a natural state, and still some slices of wilderness carved out and yet unspoiled, I know now what I never wanted to know. I can feel it in my bones and in my heart and worse, I feel it in my gut. I feel it in the dwindling energy I have each day. I see it in the slowing of accomplishment, even of the simple things. I watch ... as each day goes by ... ever faster, the unfinished lists ... ever longer, ever more impossible to complete. So many things have vanished, friends, loves, abilities ... once bountiful ... gone, but for the memories. Will they someday die with me, these memories? And yet, God's grace calls to me, ... and I respond, and still I dream, and still I hope ... that in the end, somehow I will have given something of benefit ... to those I've known ... to those I've loved ... to those in need, to those who cared - if only for a brief moment in time. With love in my heart, I remember ... them all. And, I am thankful ... for the memories.