Healthcare - It's our life, it's our right...

It's no secret that healthcare costs are spiraling out of control in this country. On average, we now spend more per person on health care than both food and housing. Insurance premiums are multiplying much faster than inflation, which prevents economic growth and leaves businesses with less money to give raises or hire more workers. While the quality and availability of medical care in the United States remains among the best in the world, many wonder whether we'd be better off adopting a universal government-controlled health care system like the one used in Canada. It is unconscionable that in our rich country—the only industrialized nation without universal health coverage—millions, including children, are uninsured, and, senior citizens are often forced to agonize between paying for extremely costly medicine or food.

Health insecurity is not confined to one part of the population. It is experienced by all Americans. Those without insurance as well as those who risk losing coverage; those who are impoverished as well as those with higher incomes who experience catastrophic costs; those who are sick or injured as well as those who are just one sickness or injury away from financial calamity. As health care costs have skyrocketed and the proportion of Americans with stable benefits has eroded, health insecurity has become a shared American experience, felt by those who thought they had it made as well as those just struggling to get by.

I applaud Hillary Clinton for being the first person to propose universal healthcare - free healthcare for everyone. Unfortunately, she was defeated because of all the money involved. The insurance and pharmaceutical companies have many highly paid, former Congressmen, lobbying in Washington, DC to push the insurance and pharmaceutical company’s agenda. This makes it almost impossible for Congress to change our healthcare policies.The United States Congress will never change our healthcare system to offer universal healthcare. The only way our healthcare system will change is if Americans take to the streets in masses and protest and vote out every member of Congress who doesn't support universal healthcare. The United States government should benchmark the healthcare systems of Canada, France and England and develop our own universal healthcare system. It’s the right thing to do! Every American regardless of "anything" should have free healthcare. Every healthcare insurance company should be dismantled and every pharmaceutical company regulated by the government. It’s time for the United States government to take over our healthcare system and provide free healthcare for all!

I think it should be virtually free, as it is in most other countries past the state of semi-industrialization. It would be funded through taxes and through increased efficiencies in the system which other countries seem to be able to affect but which we seem incapable of accomplishing with profit making entities standing between the care providers and the patients. Until we put our feet down and say "we're not going to take it anymore", the mess will continue -- the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies will rake it in, while the poor and middle class will suffer (and in some cases, die) for lack of care. It's up to us.

"Disability is NOT a death sentence - You define who you are, and you can do anything."

The eye-opening documentary Murderball takes an intriguing idea of introducing people to the sport of quad rugby, only to find even more drama and action taking place off the court. The film’s touches on family dynamics, loyalty, friendship and healing culminate to leave viewers, regardless of their ability status, with a feeling of empowerment and appreciation for the competitive spirit of quad rugby athletes. Murderball is also a great celebration of the astonishing courage shown by these high achievers. It also captures the essence of sport and competition mixed with exposure to the realities of life with a disability, free from patronization and pity-inducing sentimentality.

This is also a film about how people grow and develop as human beings, the things that happen that make them re-evaluate what's important. Many of the players recollect how they came to be in a wheelchair and what their life is like today. Among the more compelling people is Zupan, arguably one of the world's best quad rugby players, who details how a late night of drinking at 18, led to him breaking his neck after being thrown from the back of his best friend's truck into a ditch, where he would remain for more than 13 hours before being rescued. Even after more than 10 years from that day, Zupan looks back on the incident with no anger or bitterness, simply seeing it as the end of one chapter in his life.

The players are quick to dispel a somewhat popular misconception of quadriplegics as people with no use of their limbs. They all have sustained neck and/or spinal cord fractures, but with varying degrees of limb disabilities, with those serving as ratings for the purpose of the sport. For example, someone who has little impairment in their limbs would rate a 3.0, while a 0.5 would be given to a player with little or next to no use of their limbs. Those ratings are then applied during the game, with no team allowed to have the players exceed 8.0 on the court at one time.

By the first time the sport is shown on camera, viewers are given a quick introduction into its excitement, with frequent shots of wheelchairs crashing into each other, occasionally knocking competitors over. But far from being intimidated by the sport's physical nature, these players thrive on it. They want to leave no doubt that they are not handicapped - they are athletes who just happen to compete in a wheelchair. Many of the other players interviewed have similar feelings about their lives, displaying an admirably positive attitude about situations that could easily have had lesser people mired in depression and anger. Not that those feelings didn't ever surface, as one describes his initial withdrawal from society, even being against going out to get the mail, for fear of people staring at him.

Aside from the accidents that changed their lives, their stories are mixed in with the rehab of Keith Cavill, a young man who is only months removed from the accident that led to him becoming a quadriplegic. The uncertainty and fear of his new life is given a genuine jolt of excitement when Zupan comes to the rehab center to introduce the residents to quad rugby. Sure, the collisions of the armored wheelchairs in Murderball are impactful, resulting in numerous metal dents, but it's the personalities of the people in the chairs that will leave the real lasting impression.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY - AN ESTABLISHMENT AND A COMMITMENT

Without employees (and I include management in this category), a business literally could not exist. Profitable companies do not spontaneously form out of piles of equipment, software, and money. More often than not, employees are the group most responsible for a company's success, since a business is essentially nothing more than a collection of individuals gathered together for a common purpose and with a certain amount of infrastructure and capital. Most companies are obligated to behave ethically towards their employees, customers, community, and shareholders, in roughly that order.

With the current rash of layoffs in the face of a slowing economy, we are reminded once again how corporate cultures have changed. Gone are the days of cradle-to-grave employment relationships - washed away with the departure of the "company man". In the new economy, many of the old rules seem to have changed. When the economy slows and budgets are squeezed, cutting the payroll is the first response for many corporations. At the same time, many employees today hop from company to company, in a seemingly endless search for higher pay and better benefits. Sadly, the traditional concept of "corporate loyalty" has eroded on both sides.

In the face of this new reality, what can employers do to hang on to their most valuable resource - capable, hard-working employees? What level of commitment do employers and employees owe to one another, and what can be done to establish that commitment? Much has been made in recent years of the lavish perks some firms offer to attract and retain workers; but when belt-tightening time comes, extravagant fringe benefits inevitably are cut. Unlike these "frivolous fringes," there is one element that is impervious to market cycles - a corporate culture based on a strong value system. And this element is key to the long-term retention of quality employees.

From startups to established corporations, as well, integrity, fairness, and social responsibility should rank high in the spectrum of company values. What better place to start being fair, ethical, and socially responsible than with one's own employees? Employee benefits hit home. This part of the compensation package clearly reveals that the human needs of the individual employee are understood. A comprehensive benefits package has a direct impact on employee motivation and retention. The structure of a benefits package reflects the company's commitment to its employees. A thoughtfully structured and reasonably generous package shows that the company is doing what is right and best for its people - a fact that causes employees to feel valued. Workers who know that they are valued integral members of the company are likely to stay. They are also likely to reflect the company's value system in their work performance, and in the way they treat customers and clients - with respect and fairness.

Mark Gerzon – "Manhood: The Elusive Goal"

The search after the great man is the dream of youth and the most serious occupation of manhood. Man can paint, or make, or think, nothing but man. He believes that the great material elements had their origin from his thought. Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds. Each man seeks those of different quality from his own, and such as are good of his kind; that is, he seeks other men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The writing is an enigmatic journey of a young male into adulthood where there are many encounters of some of the many rites of passage (dilemmas) in the modern society; smoking, drinking, and violence. Mr. Gerzon refers to these as part of the 'masculine code of conduct' an item every male must follow verbatim.

Peer pressure is a major dilemma in that friends or peers try to get a person to do what they, the majority, like and not what the individual likes. Peers create some of the so-called rites, then when one follows more start to follow, then it becomes the scenario of the lemmings following their leader off of the face of a cliff. Some teens think that drinking is a passage into adulthood and the logic of some teens then indicates that if you drink you are considered an adult. Therefore if one teen tries it he is supposedly accepted as a more mature person, so more people will follow.

Many adolescents fear their peers because of the fact that the peer group may have set certain ideals yet the individual may or may not have the resources to obtain the ideals. If there is a lack of resources then the individual may have a low level of self esteem. Many individuals do not care for the ideals yet they allow themselves to be converted to the majority and this can also create a problem with ones self-esteem.

We cannot begin to understand our own history without understanding manhood. Even those with the most uncertain understanding of the past cannot fail to see the influence of the male in our society. It is no wonder, then, that men lean toward dominance, authority, and control. Men believe (or earnestly wish to believe) that the future depends on them; that deep within them rests an inherent ability to sire, or mentor, great men who will become the heroes of sons yet unborn. As men, it is their quiet longing that even his own sons might become, or at least associate with, such heroes. In every generation, manhood has been at the center of life and progress. It constantly strives to uphold its own traditions while anxiously trying to redefine itself. It is their nature to search for new frontiers, to be different than their fathers. How men do this, while staying within the bounds of manhood, has always been their deepest challenge.

Today we live in a complex world of few norms where gender roles are increasingly difficult to define. The meaning of manhood is determined by each man, in his experience; they are no longer formed in molds. Manhood is constantly under siege by feminists, religious fundamentalists, political and gender stereotyping and governmental decisions. Still, man endures. Manhood, as stressful as it is, does not change his genetic nature. He must always be about consciously understanding his role as a man and taking responsibility for his actions. It is now known that how males play out their roles as men in their own time will largely determine the kind of quality of life that succeeding generations will have.