Catching Up - Now Stop the Screaming

Been a while, been busy with the new kitten funny how a small fuzz-ball can take over your house, your life and your wallet. But I have been paying attention to the "news" and other assorted insanity ...

The fact that we have a version of democracy that allows us to shriek and yell and be idiots in public towards our public officials is a good thing. Freedom to speak one's mind without fear of being locked up (most of the time) is a good thing. The ability to act like a rational adult and discuss our concerns with each other as if we actually are civilized beings is a much better thing.

I am referring of course to the recent outbursts during town hall meetings regarding the proposed health care reform bills. I say "bills" because as I type this there are at least four of them in one stage or another of development. This too is a good thing, it means there are options, there are things we can discuss and tweak and refine until we get something that will work. I am not going to wade into the muck over whether or not these outbursts are staged, if people are being bussed in to take part from other states... I DON'T CARE!! I simply want people to stop acting like idiots and start acting like adults.

Screaming at the person who has come to discuss health care reform with you is not only embarrassing (assuming you have the presence of mind to be embarrassed by your own behavior) it is counter productive. Keep it up and all of the future town hall discussions will go to the electronic format that some lawmakers are already using. If that happens the environment will be completely controlled and we lose the give-take discussion, we loose the chance to be heard properly.

Yes our representatives want to hear what we think, they want to tell us what they think, they are holding town halls to foster such a discussion. There is a lot of misunderstanding out there - on both sides - and the only way to clear up the muck and shed light on the facts is to stop screaming and listen. Ask your questions in a rational manner, listen to the answers, allow someone to ask you questions and give them the courtesy of a rational answer. Discussion means that there is an actual communication process wherein there is a sender, a message and a receiver to get the ball rolling. The actual discussion comes into play when real listening occurs.

Understanding may not take hold. Agreement may not be achieved. But as grown ups we can agree to disagree. We can accept that not everyone thinks the way we do and that it is okay for that to happen. And we can certainly all work together with our elected representatives to craft some sort of health care reform that will work. It may not be perfect, it may not fix everything all at once but the fact that we are even talking about it is a good thing.

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