Thursday, December 24, 2020

The "Value" of Christmas

 


We all need Christmas, especially this year.  After a relatively joyless 2020, or at least one in which joy was overshadowed by disease, sacrifice, missed celebrations, and distant families, we need the happiness that comes from the Christmas season even more this year.

But it’s not the lights, the gifts, Santa and his workshop, or some of the other commercialized aspects of the holiday that we need.  It's the center of gravity, the actual reason for the season- Christ himself that we need to help us close out 2020 and begin again with 2021.

COVID infections and illnesses are filling up the ICU beds around the US, with California at 100% of beds filled, and the rest of the country well over 60% use rate on average.  This fact, and the discussion about who should receive the limited number of vaccines first, has again raised the dangerous and evil specter of considering someone’s value to society to determine how we apportion healthcare. 



You may remember it back when Obamacare was being debated, and Sarah Palin was famously mocked for claiming there would be death panels for our elderly.  It was due to the ACA’s mention of end-of-life care*, and the potential requirement for rationing of care in a system which has to allocate scarce medial resources.  While the ACA didn't specifically establish those panels, it makes sense.  Those in charge of the rationing, especially if a universal health care system was to come about, would have to determine who are the haves and have-nots for care.  With people given the power and the responsibility to dole out a somewhat limited commodity of healthcare services, while also reducing costs and improving the level of care, there’s no doubt that someone’s intrinsic value would be a factor in that decision.

And while Palin was criticized, President Obama essentially furthered the idea:

“In 2009, then-president Barack Obama said that “the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out there.” He called for “a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place.” The interviewer did not ask him to elaborate, but Obama’s reference to a “difficult” conversation implies his preferred solution to the “problem” of high health spending by chronically ill patients.                                                                                          Source

"A very difficult democratic conversation."  What could that possibly mean?  I can read between the lines with that as well as you can- tough decisions on who we care for.  Fast forward a decade and we have this excerpt from the same article:

“Six years ago, Zeke Emanuel, recently named to Biden’s coronavirus task force (Chanters- he also worked for Obama), famously wrote an essay that The Atlantic entitled “Why I Hope to Die at 75.” In a 2019 interview, he disclaimed responsibility for the article’s title, but not its sentiments. He then asked a provocative question surrounding the elderly: “whether our consumption is worth our contribution.” This naturally raises concerns about the government’s involvement in difficult decisions regarding end-of-life care.”                                                                                                                             Source

He went on to question what the elderly do later in life, in retirement, in their golden years, that is not "meaningful." 

“when I look at what” people over 70 “‘do,’ almost all of it is what I classify as play. It’s not meaningful work. They’re riding motorcycles; they’re hiking. Which can all have value – don’t get me wrong. But if it’s the main thing in your life? Ummm, that’s probably not a meaningful life.” 
 Apparently, he feels that since they aren’t working and paying taxes, or some other completely subjective qualifier, they aren’t of qualitative value to society. 

That’s some of the most BS social awareness PC crap I’ve ever read- a guy advocating for some sort of “Logan’s Run” idea of Carrousel, where folks go for termination after reaching a certain age, himself included.  Not to put words in his mouth, but he’s essentially stating that older people should just die for the greater good of society, or at least not receive required care because they "don't deserve it."

And where does that end?  Sarah Palin was prescient in her warnings, foreseeing a society that no longer reveres and cares not only for its elderly, but the weak and infirm, and the mentally disabled as well.  We already don't care enough about the unborn.  She has her whole heart in this issue, as she has a son with Downs Syndrome.  With my own son being Autistic and dependent on social services, I too have great concerns about such speech.

Who is he to judge?  Who are we to judge?  We’re not.  Not even close, in fact it's just the opposite. 

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 82:3-4

If someone was to advocate withholding care from the elderly, or that a person of limited mental capacity wasn’t living a life with meaning and thus deserving of care, I would immediately characterize them as one of the wicked described above- as Godless humans who have a very cold soul, who are no where near any path to righteousness.  Special place in hell as the saying goes.

In my church, and by that I don’t mean my little neighborhood parish we attend, but the entire Catholic Church in the US, has suffered from declining attendance over the past 10 years or more.  Some of it is due to the clergy sex abuse scandal, some due to the stance on gay marriage, some people just gradually drifted away.  It’s happening in other religions as well, but not nearly so great as among Catholics, with 1 in 3 baptized Catholics having left the church, 79% of them leaving before age 23, and 50% of Millennials raised Catholic no longer identifying as Catholic today.

With that loss, there comes a breach in the very foundation of our society, in the moral fiber that makes up our laws, our behaviors, and in how we look upon others in society.  Now don't get me wrong.  I don’t believe that a person has to have religion in their life to be a good and moral person, but I've found that can help center you, make you better aware of the expectations we have of ourselves, of our responsibility to others we live near and encounter, and our need to help maintain that moral fabric of society.  I would say that the earlier quotes regarding care are not coming from any sense of religion, but one of bean-counting liberal "wokeness" that is truly deaf to the cries of those residing in the portions of society that are not like them.

With COVID numbers spiking daily, and our elderly remaining the most vulnerable to it, having the limited supply of vaccines going to them first, along with our front line health care workers, makes tremendous sense.  It is common sense, unless you are like Pres. Obama or Zeke Emmanuel who would rather pose dangerous questions about their value to society.  Why young politicians like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez are first in line for the vaccine is astounding, hypocritical, and pathetic.  I guess it’s like Orwell’s Animal Farm, where some pigs are more equal than others. 

Yes, we need the Christ part of Christmas even more this year, to help us re-center ourselves on what is most important, on Jesus’s universal teachings (ones that are good even if you don’t believe in him as your savior), and on the joy that is a magnificent baby coming into the world.  We need to trust in the promise that comes from Jesus’s birth, that we need not worry as God has his plan and we only need to look to Him in times of doubt and uncertainty.


I will be celebrating His birth here at home, then rushing up to Southern Oregon to see another new baby, our Great Nephew Declan Randal Logan on my wife's side, born the same day as Sarge's progeny's progeny.  His father is active duty Army so I will enjoy sending some lighthearted ribbing  his way.

Merry Christmas everyone- from Tuna, the Missus, Minnow and the Artist.


*later dropped from the final bill


26 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you and yours. May the New Year bring you joy and happiness.

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  2. The best Christmas card I've read in long, long time.
    No mantel to put it on right now, but that's where it belongs the year round.

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  3. Mr. Emanuel stated that those over 70 do almost all no meaningful work well then what about those who are young, fit and able to work but choose not to? What value are they to society? Oh...... they probably vote for the socialists/Communists/progressives and THAT'S their value. Well said today Tuna and a very Merry Christmas to you and all of yours!

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    1. Great point. They are "worth" even less since they could contribute, but don't. The elderly probably started contributing in their teens.

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  4. "It takes God in the man, for man to be Man, as God intended Man to be." Bernerd Briscoe, His Hill, 1984

    When I heard that, it trussed up a lot of loose ends for me. I learned it. The original sin of pride, manifests as a desire to be God. And you can see it in their faces. They KNOW they are smarter than everyone else, so THEY should be able to rule as GOD rules: With total authority and no oversight because of their innate superiority. Of such people is great evil and wickedness let loose.

    Very thought provoking post today. Religion without relationship to GOD can be just as bad. True religion is to "visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction and keep oneself unspotted from the world." Those are beyond our abilities, so "It takes GOD in the man..." for that to happen as GOD intends. Our view of unspottedness is invalid, it's GOD's view that counts.

    Enjoy the visit, and be safe over there on the leftist coast.

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    1. Thanks. People that think the way you described sometimes turn into cult leaders, mass murderers, and Hitler.

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  5. A very timely message, Tuna. Thank you.

    Merry Christmas to you and yours, safe travels!

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    1. Thanks Chris (great name this time of year). Enjoy your progeny.

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  6. A Merry Christmas to all at the Chant (Frohe Wiehnacten for OldAFSarg). A very timely post Tuna. Nylon12 and STxAR stated some of the thoughts I had as I read this post. Vaya con Dios into the new year from Bandera, Tx.

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  7. Don't mention Soylent Green to the progressives.
    It will only give them ideas of how to deal with the elderly. (and probably anyone that they don't like)

    Enjoy your family time. And after a quick double check of previous comments, Joyeux Noël!

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    1. Thanks John, I will. MC&HNY to you and yours.

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  8. Wow Tuna. What a powerful thought (and nice tying together of a lot of disparate strands to make a lovely Christmas message).

    We are going through this ourselves, with aging parents that need some kind of assisted living - but at the same time trying to ask the question how do we find the right place that will help them live productive and rewarding lives within the confines of their health issues. I worry too many are "shelving" the elderly without any thought of how this changes us as a society.

    Merry Christmas!

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    1. Yeah, thanks. It kind of all came together when I heard them talk about how the vaccine should be distributed- favoring certain ethnic groups..."Public Health Experts Say Elderly Shouldn’t Get The Vaccines First Because Too Many Old People Are White."

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  9. I didn't leave the Catholic Church. Still following all the lessons and tenets (well, except for that pesky listening to Rome thingy) that I stayed with and was raised in until about 30. Mother Church left me, stranded, high and dry, like so many others, when she went lurching onto the path of social justice, and it's only gotten worse under the new pope (with rumors he's out in the new year. I shudder to think what the College of Cardinals will elect this time.)

    And, yes, that whole 'over 75' thingy. Before the Covidiocracy both Cuomo and DeBlasio were flapping their gums about 'palative care' for those over 75 or with really bad health as those people were bankrupting the New York and NYC state and city health care systems (nothing to do with the huge bigly influx of illegal aliens given access to top tier health for free, nope, nothing about that, just all those old people and sick people who refused to die...) And, funny, both Cuomo and DeBlasio championed shipping all 'Rona cases in their AOAs to nursing homes rather than the shiny new treatment centers set up by Trump-Gov. And as we know, Death stalked those halls reaping the elderly and infirm at much higher rates than anywhere else (except where mayors and governors pushed the ill into the death houses...) and both say openly that they handled Covid correctly.

    Yeah. Right.

    Me? My wife? We are still the same charitable people we've been. So we will continue to do what morally feels right, according to our teachings.

    Great rant, by the way. You can tell because it generated a mini-rant on my part.

    Charity and respect to the elders and compassion to the sick used to be some of the basic moral fibers of this country. I pray that those moral fibers return.

    As to you and yours, Merry Christmas!

    For me? I'm getting my Christmas wish. Freezing temperatures (down into the 20's and highs in the low 50's) for Christmas Day. Yes, I know.. Florida. But when I came to Florida in '73, the first Christmas I saw actual snow falling, in Satellite Beach, on Christmas Morn (Sat Beach is below The Cape, yaknow, where they shoot the missiles from.) It just doesn't seem Christmasey when one is sweating in 90 degree weather, which I've done far too much of in my life. Lessee.. SoCal from 63-69... Warm to Hot. Kwaj from 70-72, Hot. Sat Beach from 73-84, alternating cold to hot to mild to cold to hot to mostly mild. Then Gainesville, where it's either blazingly hot (80s and 90s) or mostly moderate (lows in 40s to 50s) and the occasional frozen Christmas. As long as I don't have to drive, I don't care. Let it cold, let it cold, let it cold...

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    1. Oh, I'm not happy with the leadership of the church, and the direction they are taking it, but I also don't like the leadership of this country either- Congress and Senate, and sometimes the Supes, but I'm not leaving the country. Gotta stick it out and be part of the solution, hence my rants, votes, and donations to the pols and charities I believe in. And continued prayers. My parish priest is good, the sacraments are good, my fellow parishioners are good, and that's good enough for me, despite Laudato Si and other crap coming out of Rome.

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    2. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

      I'm livid that the Church has said NOTHING about this. Not our priest, not our bishop, not our archbishop, and not our pope. My church finally went from 50 people allowed to attend Mass in a 5000+ sq ft church (FYI social distancing requires 28.66 square ft AKA 175 people could attend and still maintain.) to 100 + 20 in the choir loft+ 100 next door in the annex watching mass on TV. We made a reservation for the 8AM Mass tomorrow. We'll see what happens after that. I'm dangerously close to agreeing with Beans about who left whom.

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    3. They have rolled over and bared their neck, that's for sure. "They" aren't Jesus though, "We" are his church and I'll continue to practice it as best they'll allow. We attended the 4PM vigil mass (4 because it's too dark at 5:30). It's outside, but SanDog is temperate. Why the hypocrisy about big box stores being open, but churches aren't (save for outdoors) is beyond me.

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  10. Thanks for the post Tuna, and wishing you/yours a very Merry Christmas.
    Frank

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    1. Thank you, whomever you are!

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    2. Sorry, I missed the "Frank" at the end. I like the quote below. True dat.

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  11. Just ran across this thought on another site, and thought I would share it:
    When you see the pure smile of a child you get a glimpse of what the human race would have been like without the fall.

    Frank

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    1. Merry Christmas to you, Tuna and your Family.
      ORPO Sends

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  12. Thanks ORPO! Same to you and yours.

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