Where is Michael Moore?
Healthcare; a love poem.
On the way to work this morning I thought about healthcare. I asked myself, where are all of Obama’s supporters now? We wanted change. What are we willing to do for it? I have done nothing but scratch my head and wonder what it is I can do. I am a writer, I remind myself, and it may not be much, but I can write about healthcare in support of our President.
However, the hovering question that kept me alert in the worst traffic I’ve experienced since the beginning of summer and throughout the 15 minute detour delay was—the question bothering me was, where is Michael Moore?
I don’t lose friends quietly; I lose them in loud and unwinnable arguments. I lost a friend because of Michael Moore. Because I didn’t believe Michael Moore was god. Because I didn’t believe Michael Moore has done more to help “working class” people than …….. our definition of working class differing…..my belief that “working class” are more likely to be poor and less likely to be Moore’s audience, than the more likely less poor progressives who already understand and applaud Moore’s messages, thus a pat on the back for Moore, and a “we’re cool” pat on the back for the audience. I believe Moore isn’t a god, he’s a movie maker; he eats well, he lives well, etc. The problem between my friend and I began when I sent a video that my sister sent me that happened to show another side of Mr. Moore (Mr. Moore not the movie maker). My friend was outraged. I learned, don’t slander a friend’s guru (it wasn’t slander, really), or if you do (I didn’t) be ready to lose that friend. I’ve seen most, if not all, of Michael Moore’s movies. I even own one or two. But, I see him as human, like the rest of us. And not at all perfect.
Still, on the way to work it dawned on me, where is Mr. Moore? Immediately after seeing Sicko (June 2007), I would have liked to have gotten on a plane and moved to a country where I would be guaranteed healthcare! That’s how convincing Moore’s movies can be. But, I’m smart enough to know, after the popcorn is gone, and I’m home thinking how lucky I am I have good healthcare/including dental care because I am a State employee, that there are at least two, but most likely three or four or five slants to every story (I’m a creative writer, after all) and I shouldn’t pack my bags too quickly—has Mr. Moore packed his bags?
Still, where is Michael Moore, presenter of doom, when President Obama is trying to promote change, trying to better the U.S. healthcare system–and needs all the Michael Moore help he can get?
I decided to find out. One search on the internet, one click on one article by Mike Collett-White (Reuters) told me exactly where Mr. Moore might be—perhaps in Venice where his new movie premiered on Sunday, Capitalism: A Love Story. Moore is quoted as saying “Capitalism is an evil. . . You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy.”
Moore is quoted as saying: “Democracy is not a spectator sport, it’s a participatory event, . . . If we don’t participate in it, it ceases to be a democracy. So Obama will rise or fall based not so much on what he does but on what we do to support him.”
Is Moore participating in creating healthcare change, or just flaunting how bad our healthcare system is? Am I participating in change, or just writing a solitary blog chastising a film maker who is good at making the U.S. look bad?
I am not a politician. I don’t know much about politics. But I do know I want to see healthcare change in America. I want my friend who is now 43 years into living with diabetes, and no longer able to pay $900/month for healthcare which he has had to pay since he was laid off from yet another failed high tech communications business ($900 which doesn’t even cover all of his healthcare needs) and even though he has put hours of volunteer time into the healthcare industry hoping to find a new career, one he is passionate about, he has yet to be hired by anyone in the industry, perhaps because one’s experience living with the disease is not a line anyone wants to see on a resume. Oh, don’t get me started. Another friend is a writer who has never had healthcare, but is an artist dedicated to social justice and America needs writers to deliver the truth, but truth sayers are not necessarily well-loved citizens; yet they too, or maybe even more than most, deserve healthcare coverage. I, like many friends I know who are nearing or past the age of 62, would love to retire and spend my time where my passions are; for example, getting people to write their stories (about the need for healthcare change). But I can barely dream (and I am a dreamer) of ever retiring before 65 when I become eligible (maybe I will still be eligible) for Medicare because healthcare goes out the window with “early” retirement; and then at 65 one must be able to afford supplemental healthcare insurance. I’m digressing.
Where is the love? I know it’s a cliché, but where is the love? Why aren’t all of us who supported Obama for President not rallying now? Let’s make some noise, write some letters, march in the streets. Do whatever we as individuals can do. I am starting by writing this blog entry, it’s not much, but it’s something.
This entry is a poem, a love poem. Don’t let the format confuse you.
Another lunch hour gone by. I am posting my poem as is. I have some reading to do. There’s a lot I don’t know about healthcare/reform. If there’s one thing I can do now (well after work) is to research, read, and try to sort fact from fiction. And then, maybe I will write a poem that behaves like a poem.
Note: My insurance is through Health Partners; here’s an interesting read about Minnesota’s Health Partners
Sherry Quan Lee
September 8, 2009
