Thursday, February 24, 2011

A Moment of Clarity

The current economic and political climate these days is worrying, to say the least. Yes, budget cuts are necessary but at what cost?

I was thinking about that this morning. I admit, I'm concerned about the financial backlash of a Washington shutdown and disgusted at the cuts Arizona legislators are proposing. I'm worried about the children, the elderly, the poor, the sick and especially anybody who depends on what are called "entitlements" for basic survival and to give them access to health care and education. In short, I am concerned that in the name of "budget cuts" some of the poorest, most disadvantaged and most helpless will get thrown under the bus -- all so politicos can swagger and brag about saving Americans money. But at what cost? Do they even think about the human face of budget cuts?

I found myself praying for those same legislators and bureaucrats who are making these decisions that will negatively impact so many lives. I prayed that they might stop and look at the people they were so blithely cutting off at the knees, the helpless ones that would be collateral damage while the legislators gleefully look at the bottom line without considering the human cost. I prayed they would remember those who paid the taxes that supported their schools and the opportunities they were given and what legislators now want to deny to the next generation. I prayed too that they would look at the children, the disabled, the immigrants, the invalids.....

And then I froze. In a flash of clarity I considered the word I had just used, "invalids". My heart almost stopped with the implication of what I was saying.

In medical terms an invalid is considered someone who is incapacitated by chronic illness or disability or injury. It's long been used as a term for someone who is bed-ridden or house-bound, someone who needs considerable help in order just to do the basic things of life like eating, bathing, getting to doctor's appointments and treatments, someone who needs almost constant tending. The British used the term "invalided out" to military personnel required to leave or retire from active service due to wounds or illness.

A more commonly used definition for "invalid" these days is to be faulty, based in falsehood, logically inconsequent, unfounded, or just plain no good. People working with computers frequently encounter "invalid" and the result is usually at least the utterance of a four-letter expletive.

But it occurred to me that using the term "invalid" to mean someone who is chronically ill, disabled or requiring a lot of assistance is to label them as in-valid. Not normal. Not functional. Not mobile. Not good. Not valued or valuable. Not worth an entitlement or assistance. It's this word we've been politely using and not thinking at all about the meaning of what we're saying.

But who is really in-valid? Who really has no worth at all? I could point to someone like Stephen Hawking, certainly trapped in a body that without great assistance would have crumbled to dust long ago but whose mind travels to the edges of the galaxy and beyond, taking us with him. If he lived in the US, he could be a candidate for cuts in his care that could lead to his death. What about the elderly veteran in a VA hospital, scarred mentally and physically from wounds incurred in the struggle to keep this country both great and free? Has he no value, no worth, no validity? What of the little six-year-old who didn't have much of a breakfast at home and who now must hear that the lunch at school s/he counted on to keep focused on schoolwork and not a growling, empty stomach has been done away with and that s/he is just out of luck because the free lunch program that has been cut. Those are only a few examples. Think of immigrants who must fear being turned in to the INS if they seek medical care for a preventable or easily-cured disease that must either become life-threatening or cause death before they dare seek help. Does their being in this country under less than legal conditions mean they are "in-valid," without worth or possibility of contributing positively?

That prayer this morning stopped abruptly. I think now that if I framed it I would be more careful of how I phrase things. No, not to be "politically correct," which, IMVHO, is a totally bogus and invalid charge often leveled against someone who says something somebody else doesn't like. I would still pray for the legislators who seemingly judge the value of others using a yardstick of their own fabrication and comprehension. I would pray that their hearts would be open, and their eyes as well, to the proven worth of the past as shown by our elderly who raised this generation of legislators, and the promise of the future as exemplified by our children who are the leaders of tomorrow. I would pray that their ears would be hearing the cries of the hungry and hurting, hearing the result of budget cuts that invalidates the poorest and not just the honeyed words of the lobbyists, the million- and billionaires and the special interests that want to keep increasing their own bottom line at the expense of others.

And I would pray for all of us, that we might also never be so complacent that we ignore the value of and the Christ-presence in every person, every human being, whether or not appearances might be to our liking, our understanding or even our comfort level.

Either that or we need to take that bronze plaque from off the base of the Statue of Liberty because it may have represented what we once were but no longer are.

2 comments:

  1. I always think of the story of the paralytic when I hear the word "invalid." He had given up. His friends brought him to Jesus. In the Mark and Luke versions, he is lowered through a hole made in the roof. I like to think it wasn't just because the crowd was so big, but because he had truly given up.

    We drop people off the unemployment rolls after a spell. We assume they are in-valid in some way. Employers are now posting "The unemployed need not apply." They are in-valid.

    We are in cruel, cruel times.

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  2. Thanks Kitty -- it is so discouraging -

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