Shaking my head

Everyone who knows me or who reads this blog regularly knows that I like finding common ground.  I like to find the things that bind us, and focus on those things instead of the things that separate us.

Most of you also know I don't believe social media platforms like Facebook are an appropriate platform for argument or debate.  I observed a Facebook argument this week that has left me shaking my head.  Here is how it went.

A friend who has a child with congenital heart disease expressed concern about what would happen to her child if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.  The baby isn't even three years old, and has already had over three million dollars in medical expenses, and will need multiple additional open heart surgeries to survive.

Someone actually thought it was a good idea to post on that thread that they think repeal is a good thing.

What followed is mind-blowing.  "My child could die."  "But my premiums will go down."  "My child could die."  "But bad people take advantage."  "My child could die."  "I would help your child, but bad people and premiums."

I've greatly oversimplified, but holy moly!  First, why did that person even think it was in the same zip code as appropriate to say anything other than I hope that nothing hurts your child's chances of survival?

What level of self-absorption does a person have to achieve before they think that anything, I repeat anything, in their world view matters more than a parent trying to save their child's life?

How does someone get to the point where they think their opinion belongs on everyone else's posts?  If you have an opinion, put it on your own Facebook or Instagram or Twitter.  Don't pollute the universe.

I don't know the person, who proceeded to engage in arguments with multiple people who tried to illustrate that his opinion was just that, and that there are facts that support different opinions.

Any facts presented that did not support his opinion were dismissed as coming from illegitimate sources.  He deflected into welfare and guns and all sorts of other nonsense.  Reading the comments, I felt like the person really thought he was doing a service to humanity to illustrate that everyone who did not share his opinion is either stupid, misinformed, or simply incompetent.

Health care is complicated, and deserves reasonable, thoughtful debate.  Healthcare is an emotional issue for many people, so rational debate is really difficult.  The Affordable Care Act is far from perfect.  In America, we need to do something to fix our broken healthcare system.  We spend too much money for the outcomes we get.  Too many people still fall through the cracks in the system.  There is too much corporate money being made, and too much money going into the hands of healthcare executives at the expense of the consumer.

But a parent being genuinely frightened that they might liquidate all their assets to provide necessary medical care for their child and still have to watch their child die because there is no more money is not a time for debate.

It is a time for compassion.  For support.  For an outpouring of love.

And for all those reading this who think that there is some magical safety net that would prevent a child dying because of a lack of money, God and the Universe bless you for your innocence.  No such safety net exists in the United States. The United States is 45th in the listing of Infant Mortality Rate.  That means infants dies less frequently in 44 other countries than they do in the US.  The leading causes of infant mortality are birth asphyxia, pneumonia, birth complications, neonatal infections, diarrhea, malaria, measles and malnutrition.  All of which can be traced to lack of appropriate hygiene or prenatal care.  Which are hard to get when you are poor.

I know that it is tempting to jump in with an opinion when you read something on social media that doesn't fit your world view.  If you feel that strongly about it, put something on your own wall, or start a blog. (HA!)  But please, think about what you are doing.  There is now a person in the world that I don't know and I hope I never meet, because of the way that person chose to present themselves in my friend's world.

None of us ever have to do that.