In this time of elected leaders posturing on who can make the most cuts in the federal budget so we can get eventually get our economic house in order, we are all told that there will be equal sacrifice for all.
This is something we all have to accept.
It looks like cuts, however, will require the most sacrifice from the poor, the elderly and our youth.
One thing these leaders just don't get is that the people listed above are already sacrificing. They have been for decades.
I am one example of an elder who lives on a small Social Security check that hasn't had a cost of living raise since I started getting a check three years ago. Since I turned 65, I now get Medicare. But the sacrifice is that my monthly check is reduced nearly $200 a month for my premium, supplemental insurance and Part D. Between rent and the health insurance premiums, I am left with less than $200 a month for food, gas, medicine, etc. I feel guilty if I break down and buy a hotdog downtown occasionally. I walk everywhere I go to save on transportation costs.
Now let's see what kind of sacrifice the millionaire will have to endure. Will he or she try to dump one of their multiple homes or multiple vehicles? Maybe the yacht. Perhaps they'll settle for Vanderbilt University instead of Harvard.
When one asks the poor to sacrifice their share, on paper that looks fair. But even a $5.00 a month sacrifice for a person who today can't even buy adequate food to survive that same month is like Marie Antoinette saying the peasants should eat cake.
Tonight my meditation cries out for the poor, those who have had to sacrifice more than their share for far too long. They know, as well as I, that there is no room for more sacrifice in our lives.
Let he or she who has ears to hear and eyes to see actually hear and see the reality of required sacrifice being demanded by all.
And I venture to say that the majority of us would be willing to work if the jobs were available from employers who were willing to hire us.
Is this the America I learned about in elementary school 50 plus years ago?
No, I don't think so!