Last week four of my days were absorbed by visits to a doctor. Each one was an expensive specialist. And the week before that I had my annual physical. The cost to me will probably be minuscule. I am so grateful for a federal government that supervises Medicare and a state government that provides me with supplementary insurance because of my years of service as an educator. Yet the cost of my much appreciated physical well-being is minuscule in comparison to the finances the federal government provided in extending the life of my wife (now deceased) for many years thanks to a kidney transplant. And further that two of my children are alive because of the kidney transplant also provided at federal government expense. The expense of ANY ONE of these operations without such assistance would have wreaked havoc upon my ability to enjoy life in retirement.
And I leave it to the reader to regularly look for those things "governments" provide to enrich our lives that we all take too much for granted.
PS – But I would be remiss if I did not also pay tribute to individuals and family units that made the transplants possible:
– The family of the individual whose organs were used in transplants.
– The student who donated one of her kidneys to her former professor.
– The friend who donated one of her kidneys.
– And of course all those in the development of science and its application to make such "miracles" possible.
Ron
I appreciate your perspective re: "a caring, supportive government" and "...provided at federal government expense." I ask that you recognize that everything the government gives to you, it takes from someone else. Please reserve some of your gratitude for the taxpayers, particularly future taxpayers. Also, I hope that your children are giving you lots of grand- and great-grandchildren, because someone has to pay for those transplants, and it won't be "the government."
ReplyDelete