Death

Death is on my mind a lot. In the last few years, we've lost a lot of friends, and some of the icons of my youth are aging and dying. I recently lost my best friend of 15 years, Sneaker, a massive tuxedo cat who was brilliant, cranky, and endlessly loyal. People close to me know what a blow that has been, and people who aren't close to me don't deserve an explanation, even if I could give one.

I'm just worn out on the limits of life, especially the ones that don't need to be there. The debate on health care is draining the last bits of hope I have for my fellow human beings. I have yet to hear anyone start their arguments from the point of view that every person deserves every kind of health care. Instead of starting with, "We need to limit costs, increase competition, get people to choose less expensive options," I'd like to hear someone just say, "A person deserves all the care we have to give, so let's figure out how to give it."

But then, since when have people ever done what's right?

So I'm even more bitter than usual, thinking of how short life is, and how impossibly cruel and greedy people are, that they are willing to make it harder on each other to make a little extra money. If I believed in hell, I would expect it to be full of people from the insurance and medical industry.

The shortness of life, the capriciousness of fate, the horrors of nature, all steal the things that bring us joy fast enough. Now, on top of that, we need to find financial reasons to protect our own and each others' lives as well. After all this time, it's still about the money.

Maybe we deserve how short life is after all.