Eight years ago today something terrible happened in America. Three thousand lives were innocently snuffed out at the hands of those who wished to send a message. It was a moment in time that changed the way we live our lives; changed how we saw ourselves; changed our motivations; changed our focus. Countless tens of thousands since have suffered a multitude of health and mental issues related to that day in the aftermath. May we never forget those who fell and were injured at the hands of the 9/11 terrorists.
On that day, the lawmakers and representatives of our country stood united. UNITED! Every one of the men and women of Congress stood together and vowed to work tirelessly to seek out those responsible for the deaths and massive suffering and fix the cracks in the armor.
On that day the leaders of both political houses pledged to stand united in ending the root cause of so much suffering. There were no partisan messages, no arguing, no shouting, no name calling and no hidden agendas. They even sang a round of God Bless America together on the steps of the Capitol Building. What's more, in the weeks following 9/11 our Congress worked quickly and swiftly in unison with the President to enact the necessary funding and a plan. Not a perfect plan, but a plan to get this country and her resources mobilized.
As a citizen who remembers that day, and the days following, I don't think anyone thought the plan and funding was the perfect solution. But we all knew we needed to act quickly in order to ensure no American citizen would suffer similar circumstance. We needed to hit the ground fast and, if necessary, sharpen and refocus the plan as we went in order to be most decisive and effective. We Americans are pretty nimble in that respect.
Eight years later we face eerily similar circumstances, only from an enemy within. Our country is no longer united. Nor is our Congress. No one stands on the steps of the Capitol Building singing in unison. No one is shelving their political agendas in order to rescue their constituents from suffering and needless death. The leaders of the two major parties would just as soon tear their opponents arms off and beat them with it than sit in the same room and work out a plan for the betterment of most American citizens.
Conservative estimates indicate that approximately 25,000 American citizens die yearly from lack of health care or lack of affordable health care. Hundreds of thousands more suffer daily, weekly and yearly for the same reasons. We stand at the precipice of ending all the suffering if only we can come together united. Our country has the world's finest health care minds and scientists. We have the solutions at our disposal.
If we could throw the same personnel and money resources at a Health Care plan that we've thrown at the War on Terror I'm confident that needless medical suffering and death would be wiped away. I'm also confident that we won't get it right the first time. But again, we are a nimble and resilient country. We persevere. We overcome. We succeed.
Revamping the health care behemoth we have in our country today can overcome the seemingly insurmountable cost and access restrictions standing in the way of proper and decent medical services for the majority of American citizens. It won't be easy or quick but we can do it. That is as long as we all stand united and come together to solve instead of divide.
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