A long time ago human beings were primarily communal beings. They lived on a small scale and shared most everything within the immediate community. These communities were not perfect by any means but they functioned holistically and sustainably. Then about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago man did something that created the ability for modern civilizations to evolve into our present form. The creation of agriculture was and is by far one of the most important achievements to human history.

Suddenly communities were able to move beyond the small scale clan and kinship systems that they had utilized before. Communities grew so large in fact that much of the communal society that shared everything had to be discarded. One had to begin worry about providing for oneself and one's immediate family before worrying about the greater whole. (Note: The concept of immediate family varies greatly depending on the culture)

Thus the spirit of individualism became a dominant factor in some societies. In this society we prize our individual freedoms and civil liberties above and beyond all else. I am not here to contest the validity of upholding such virtues. However, the problem is in honoring the rights of some individuals, has the possibility to create a scarcity of resources, which eventually leads the dissolution of the rights of others. Pure individualism is dangerous in its raw and uncontested form.

In this country we have a right to "hoard". Our society is very much an unregulated capitalism that has gone seriously awry. This hoarding takes the resources that plentiful and narrows a large portion of them down to the few, the powerful, and primarily to those who already have. This creates a gap, a disparity of resources between social classes and prevents some from receiving the basic elements it takes to live one's life, or the ability to raise the condition of one's life.

Thus unregulated individual liberties can not only cause poverty but rob the very liberties they seek to instill amongst the masses. It is because there is no foreseeable future where the greed of some will be limited to provide a more sustainable life for the few, that we must take individual responsibility and move away from individual hoarding. We must learn to respect and care for one another regardless of ideology and background.

When we feel fear as to the threat of things like healthcare, we must tame our emotions so that they do not rule us irrationally. Then we must ask ourselves, "What is really being threatened?" Look deeply past the political rumors; past your own individual stake in the claim. Go further inside and realize at last that you feel that perhaps the true fear is that the outcome of the situation is unknown.

You may be afraid to lose your own insurance or that you will no longer be able to afford basic living costs, but the truth is this is a reality for many people already. The fact is, it doubtful that the majority of you out there will even notice much of a difference. It is historically true that bills that pass through they system undergo a long term evolution to make corrections to its own inadequacies. One can see this example in the formation of Social Security and Medicaid. It took a long time to get things right, as it will this.

In truth, the government or anyone else including myself, cannot tell you what to do. We are all beings limited by the perceptions that have been constructed on the very environment that is our life. We are all limited in our scope and need one another to get to the bottom of things. James Madison famously encouraged debate, because he believed that it was through debate that the best results could be reached. This is true only if we remember our perceptions, only if we remember to think, "What is being threatened?" If we allow our emotions to overcome us then our judgment will be clouded and debate will often fail.

We have a choice now. We can support the sick, the overworked, those who struggle just to simply pay the bills, or we can support those who have hoarded and created the health care crisis in the first place. They are those who thought only of selfish gain and not of their fellow man. They are those who created Big Pharma, corporate medicine, and frivolous lawsuits.

We must always remember that our politicians are draped in an American Flag sewn with the stitches of the lobbyist and by the threads of reelection. Is it not written by many a great man, that we should care for our fellows? Do not all the great wisdom traditions and many religious texts speak of loving kindness and compassion?

When it comes to the sick, where has our kindness gone?