Sunday Musings - May 2, 2021
As we begin the month of May, the second May of living with a pandemic, the first with a new President of the United States, just one of many during which all must face the fact that access to medications necessary for life itself and access to healthy, organic fresh food is often limited to the relatively wealthy as is access to many cultural - food for the soul - events.
Most of us no longer live in places where we can grow or raise our own food and are nor surrounded by a large extended family/community which includes talented musicians, bakers and others who feed all parts of each other. Some of us have access to health care although in the United States insurance companies, including the government issued Medicare and Medicaid as well as the Veterans Administration, limit access to certain medications and procedures.
Last evening I attended an opera performance which honored and celebrated black composers. The mid-priced tickets were $25.00. The processing charge was $10.00, 2/5th of the ticket price. This was very inexpensive for this type of event. Yet, for many, it was not affordable and certainly not affordable if 4 or more family members wanted to attend. The same is true for museums. It is true that some museums have a free day - usually during the week - for city residents. Yet, for the most part, in person cultural events (non- pandemic times) are not available to the average person or family.
We are in the midst of a pandemic. Access to vaccines is controlled by patents in many places. Even if patent access is lifted, access to processes for making the vaccines may be kept secret and protected. CNN.com reports “The various Covid-19 vaccines currently being distributed around the globe have the potential to end the worst pandemic in a century. They also will mean hundreds of billions dollars in sales for the pharmaceutical companies that make them.” Even if priced at $20.00 per doze billions of doses are needed around the world.
Just this morning I had a dozen or more emails in my in box decrying the “socialist” policies or recommendations of the Biden administration. One wonders in a nation which still likes to pretend as if it is a “Christian’ nation (never was) how the sharing of resources got to be such a negative, unpatriotic, immoral concept. One wonders how one can claim to be Christian and basically decide that a very large percentage of the population is disposal. We have a long history of treating certain individuals as robots who can be purchased or mass produced (otherwise known as slaves). Do we honestly believe that we as a country which treats a very large percentage of its population as disposable can thrive long term?
On this Sunday, many will gather remotely or increasingly in person in so called Christian churches and worship a man named Jesus whose profit margin on bread and wine he multiplied, on the fish caught, or on the lessons he taught was not even considered. Yet the name of Jesus will be associated with independence and not interdependence (outside the circle of believers), anti-socialist, capitalist policies which, in essence, must actively or passively support laws and customs which results in the majority of the population being disposable. This is not Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or moral by any standard.
In the midst of this darkness, there is the bright light of those who through the spoken word, music, dance, painting and other art forms declare that freedom shall prevail; that there are no disposal people, there is no private property but only resources to be shared; that love is a verb; that no one has the right to own what is essential for life. This is the message of all the radical, socialist, misfit, homeless, unemployed carpenters types otherwise known as spiritual teachers.
Written May 2, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
As we begin the month of May, the second May of living with a pandemic, the first with a new President of the United States, just one of many during which all must face the fact that access to medications necessary for life itself and access to healthy, organic fresh food is often limited to the relatively wealthy as is access to many cultural - food for the soul - events.
Most of us no longer live in places where we can grow or raise our own food and are nor surrounded by a large extended family/community which includes talented musicians, bakers and others who feed all parts of each other. Some of us have access to health care although in the United States insurance companies, including the government issued Medicare and Medicaid as well as the Veterans Administration, limit access to certain medications and procedures.
Last evening I attended an opera performance which honored and celebrated black composers. The mid-priced tickets were $25.00. The processing charge was $10.00, 2/5th of the ticket price. This was very inexpensive for this type of event. Yet, for many, it was not affordable and certainly not affordable if 4 or more family members wanted to attend. The same is true for museums. It is true that some museums have a free day - usually during the week - for city residents. Yet, for the most part, in person cultural events (non- pandemic times) are not available to the average person or family.
We are in the midst of a pandemic. Access to vaccines is controlled by patents in many places. Even if patent access is lifted, access to processes for making the vaccines may be kept secret and protected. CNN.com reports “The various Covid-19 vaccines currently being distributed around the globe have the potential to end the worst pandemic in a century. They also will mean hundreds of billions dollars in sales for the pharmaceutical companies that make them.” Even if priced at $20.00 per doze billions of doses are needed around the world.
Just this morning I had a dozen or more emails in my in box decrying the “socialist” policies or recommendations of the Biden administration. One wonders in a nation which still likes to pretend as if it is a “Christian’ nation (never was) how the sharing of resources got to be such a negative, unpatriotic, immoral concept. One wonders how one can claim to be Christian and basically decide that a very large percentage of the population is disposal. We have a long history of treating certain individuals as robots who can be purchased or mass produced (otherwise known as slaves). Do we honestly believe that we as a country which treats a very large percentage of its population as disposable can thrive long term?
On this Sunday, many will gather remotely or increasingly in person in so called Christian churches and worship a man named Jesus whose profit margin on bread and wine he multiplied, on the fish caught, or on the lessons he taught was not even considered. Yet the name of Jesus will be associated with independence and not interdependence (outside the circle of believers), anti-socialist, capitalist policies which, in essence, must actively or passively support laws and customs which results in the majority of the population being disposable. This is not Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or moral by any standard.
In the midst of this darkness, there is the bright light of those who through the spoken word, music, dance, painting and other art forms declare that freedom shall prevail; that there are no disposal people, there is no private property but only resources to be shared; that love is a verb; that no one has the right to own what is essential for life. This is the message of all the radical, socialist, misfit, homeless, unemployed carpenters types otherwise known as spiritual teachers.
Written May 2, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
RSS Feed