YOUR WELLBEING AND MINE—AMERICA’S VITAL LIFELINE

By Edwin Cooney

Not long ago, doctors diagnosed seven year-old Heather McNamara of Islip, Long Island with a virulent form of cancer. The tumor, which originated in her stomach, was surrounding vital organs and blood vessels. Since the tumor was not responsive to chemotherapy, her parents and doctors had two options. They could intervene with superior forces or they could allow the illness to take its natural course. Ultimately, the family opted for intervention by medical science.

The good news is that in the wake of a twenty-three hour surgical procedure at New York City’s Presbyterian-Morgan Stanley Children’s hospital costing dollars her parents may or may not possess, little Heather went home on March 10th. She was minus a stomach (replaced by tissue from her large intestine) as well as a pancreas and spleen. She’s now a diabetic and will need insulin. Without a spleen, Heather will need heavy dosages of antibiotics to fight off infections. Doctors Tomoaki Kato and Steven Lobritto say they believe they have all of the cancer and, if the tumor doesn’t reappear, little Heather’s future may be bright.

As stated above, I know not if Joe and Tina McNamara have the funds to pay for their little girl’s procedure. What I am sure of, however, is that you and I -- regardless of political affiliation -- do believe that little Heather deserves to live regardless of her parent’s ability to pony up.

Like our national economic health, Heather’s physical health remains uncertain. Similar to the way in which a vast majority of Americans have been victimized by faults in America’s socio/economic system over which they had limited control, Heather was victimized by faults in her anatomic system over which she had no control.

One of the most effective strategies for teaching history is the linkage between individual and national life experiences. As far back as the Pilgrims’ Mayflower Compact, men have written of “the body politic”. It is an excellent phrase, because it outlines precisely what inclusive politics is all about: the rights, needs and opportunities of and for individuals. Nations, like people, are born, pass through growing pains into adolescence and, ultimately, grow into maturity. Some of them, such as the former Soviet Union or Ancient Mesopotamia, die. National death is usually caused by poor health to begin with. The Soviet Union was constructed on a totally false premise by men who were in fact autocrats posing as social reformers. Ancient Mesopotamia was run by sultans more interested in their indulgences than in posterity. So, like poorly cared for human bodies, these nations died.

Like little Heather McNamara, America finds itself gripped by a national infection in the first decade of the twenty-first century. As America absorbs its effects, its people and its leaders quarrel over the cause and who should be punished for bringing it about.

Some insist that greedy enterprise was the cause. Others insist that it was caused by government regulations regarding minority-housing opportunities. Some insist that the antidote is a tightening of credit and tax cuts to those who still possess money enough to invest in businesses, moneymaking institutions and projects. Our newly elected president insists that money in the pockets of a wide group of consumers is the most effective antidote for killing the infection. Critics of the administration say that if the government confiscates money from those who earned it only to put into the pockets of people who haven’t, it will be “dirty money” and become bloated by its own rot. The administration insists that money is the nation’s economic “life blood” and that economic depression sets in when not enough parts of the “body politic” are infused with it and subsequently nourished by it.

Do to powerful intervention, Heather’s body, although by no means out of the woods, has a chance to support her into adulthood. Hopefully, through similar intervention, our “body politic” and all it represents to our peace, security and prosperity will be revitalized to sustain you, me and the generations yet to come.

Individuals are, of course, mortal. However, because we love and need them, most of us would spend whatever it takes to preserve them. National immortality may be more likely, but it can be destroyed.

Every time we sing or otherwise ask that “God bless America, Land that we love,” isn’t it the least we can do to consider assisting God in contributing to America’s perpetuation or immortality? I think we should, even if we have to pay for it. Investing in our future isn’t such a bizarre idea, is it?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY