http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2222320/Woman-27-given-months-live-rare-cancer-needs-raise-25-000-life-saving-operation.htmlHow often do we read and see stories about people raising money to pay for some or other life-saving medical treatment? And those are just the ones lucky enough to have been picked up by the media. What does this say about our society?
Let me tell you: Our society has defined the value of a life according to how many dollar signs are attached to that life. Every day we try to "remember the good things in life" and "find a reason to smile today" - while at the same time we are accepting and allowing our society to exist as a system of abuse and exploitation by justifying it as "just the way it is".
This is probably the most widely used Get Out Of Jail card for responsibility ever. We use this excuse all over the place, as if it is a valid reason for allowing abuse to continue. Tell me how it makes any kind of sense, please, because I just don't understand. The really f#cked up part is that we then go on to teach our kids to think and live this way and so the cycle just continues.
How is it that we have come to judge the worth of a life according to money? Even those who have had to raise a small fortune to save their own or another's life don't question why we live this way. The risk of relying on public health facilities across the globe is increasing, to the point that we are not surprised to hear of people dying due to poor service on an almost daily basis. In South Africa, public hospitals are pretty much a death sentence, and private hospitals charge a fortune for absolutely everything. And then there's the whole medical aid scheme robbing us blind and refusing to cover most of the costs on arbitrary technicalities. And, let's not forget the pharmaceutical industry, trying its very best to kill us as slowly as possible to be able to squeeze as much profit out of us as possible. Obviously, the most vulnerable get gang raped by the whole lot of them - pensioners and families raising kids - these are the people who have the highest requirement for support.
The excuse of "it's just the way it is" is just that - an excuse - a way for us to avoid taking the more difficult path of changing the way we live. One will find that most people's greatest fear is changing themselves - our greatest fear is losing ourselves by choosing a path we have not walked before. We are all capable of living in a way that honours life. We will need to give ourselves courage, and patience to walk this path.
Choose life, not money. Go to www.equalmoney.org to see how
Comments
Post a Comment