The travesty of the Veteran's Administration has inundated the mainstream and social media sphere's, yet I refused to comment on the topic until recently when Eric Shinseki chose to step down from office. To me, repeating the refrain that the VA has been a mess carried minimal inspiration for me to write. Even the angle of who is responsible and what should be done seems odd when the only fix demands bi-partisan agreement which is a bigger problem than the VA. My commentary on the Shiseki resignation was my reflection on clear evidence of internal meltdown within the administration of the coolest president on record.
The real story regarding the VA is that we all have been complicit as we've sidelined this issue and refused to scream as loud as some are yelling right now. I, for one, take full ownership for realizing the reputation of the VA hospital and not developing nausea prior to now. Now, you might ask, what can one anonymous blogger do to fix the problems with the VA?
What's better than doing nothing?....Almost anything!
Up until now, we....me, have done nothing about poor care for the caretakers of freedom. Sure, I say thanks to vets all the time, but thank you didn't keep the vets who died while waiting from dying while waiting. Thanks didn't help my grandfather much either when he was dying in the VA with cancer.
When Shinseki resigned and I finally got compelled to write about the VA, my number one reader responded with a common opinion about the VA.
What made this response common for me was partially the familiar depiction of the VA nightmare, but it was also the recollection of childhood memories. In a moments notice I felt like a patient on the couch being asked to talk about your memories of the men in your life...like your grandfather.
My grandfather, Elmer Eugene Mozee Sr., was a wonderful man. He was a valuable example of the potential of black men at a time when perception did not hold us in the best of regard. He was not only a well educated man, he was bilingual and spent lots of time talking only in Spanish when visiting my mom and our family. He did not remain with my grandmother, with whom he fathered three children, but he remarried and raised another family and always kept in contact with us.
As I grew older, my maternal family often compared me to him (which I don't recall as words of love). I could remember staring at him secretly and observing his mannerisms and features to see what in me did they recognize from him. Kids seldom got to "sit up under adults" back in the day, so I had to sneak my peeks, but I remember them and him like it was yesterday.
I also remember when he stopped visiting. When he was sick, my mom did like most mom's would do. She kept it from us as much as humanly possible, but I remember the pain of the process. Losing your father slowly to cancer while struggling with the VA to give him the best care possible is not something anyone can do with perfect grace. However, mom did well enough for those memories to disappear.....until today.
We are probably never going to fix the problem with the VA without spending more money and potentially creating more problems as the journey to efficient care will undoubtedly be messy and costly. We all pretend to be advocates for our veterans, but we can't agree on spending or oversight to insure that we care for them after they serve. In the short view, only the soldier loses while we wait to decide what represents proper care. In the long view our military becomes less and less attractive when those who serve cry for the treatment they deserve.
When I think of my grandfather, I am always inspired towards the same kind of selflessness that inspired him to serve this country. Social commentary can feel fruitless when you realize how few people care to read and even fewer care to change. Yet, if Ghandi had taken such a position then the world may have never known Martin Luther King Jr.. Every movement began with the inspiration of one who moved and inspired others.
My mother inspired me to write. She wrote all the time when I was growing up, and when I learned to write and could copy her I did. The pain of watching my grandfather get less than what he earned as a soldier of this nation inspired my mother into nursing. It undoubtedly inspired her to write on occasion so the VA might have inspired us both towards our passions. Years later, the shortages in healthcare professionals hasn't changed much at all, and as my favorite reader tells it, even she couldn't take a job at the VA when she became a nurse, because our lack of commitment to our soldiers is evidenced in poor entry level nurse pay at the VA.
Spending more is a must. Spending more, more efficiently is equally necessary. I believe that our hesitance to fix this mess is connected to our own healthcare issues. America is a nation starved of the benefits from preventive healthcare. Healthcare is primarily expensive because it is primarily delayed until the state of emergency. Even with health insurance, America has to develop the habits of healthy people which includes consistent preventative healthcare visits. People who refuse to visit doctors have limited sensitivity to those who require consistent care. We don't care about caring for our soldiers because we hardly care to take care of ourselves, until we have no choice.
What I do know about America is this. We might sacrifice our health, but we are ALL all-in on this freedom thing. If I can't compel anyone to consider the value of healthy soldiers then I will seek to inspire this nation with the vision of freedom compromised. The care of our veterans is directly related to the future of freedom as we know it. Simply walk outside and take a breath of fresh, FREE air and then do your part to make life better for our vets.
........or keep pretending that this is someone else's problem. Soon enough, we will have no choice on this.
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