Being True

Where is it written that we should stand by and let things just be?  In my last blog, I am sure that I came across to some as being extreme.  Please accept my apology as that is not the what I wanted.  I am a very passionate person who cares especially when it comes to my family.  I am not one who sits by and just accepts things the way they are.  Thanks Mom for making me that way.
Today was a very relaxing day. No major interruptions or surprises like life can just throw at one with no warning.  At least  things are getting settled away with my father who at this time is going through very trying times with his medical problems. My father fell twice last month in his home after having amputation of his leg in January.  He is a diabetic who has mesothelioma, conjestive heart failure, and high blood pressure. As is customary with our aging parents, he lives on a fixed income that really doesn't go very far.  Oh yes and my father is a very stubborn man who will not listen at all to any person especially his children.  If I had a dollar for every time he has ever told me that I think I know more than he does, I would not have to work.  But regardless of what once was or ever will be he is still loved.
Maybe now that things are getting settled and going forward, I can get back to writing poetry.  Or I could do one of my other ongoing things.  Oh where does one start?  Wait I know well on second thought maybe that.  Goals, why yes I have goals.  I am a goal oriented person.  I have to admit that my goals are not always coming to pass as fast as I would like.  But I still trudge own with them.  Mom always said a baby has to crawl before it can walk, but my knees are getting sore and tired from the crawling.  God if you see this a little help would be greatly appreciated right now.  I know all is seen and heard.  It's just that sometimes it's human nature to wonder and I am human.  A human that admits I am not perfect  by any means and who always falls short but I try.  Onward I go though!  I sure can't say that with everything that has happened to us in the last four years that I haven't felt like just giving up.  But the question always comes to me that what would I do or accomplish by giving up.  Besides every day that I wake up life is still there and I have to face it.  After 10 plus years at a job what does one do or how do they start over when the company shuts down?  Get another job, well we did that.  As it turned out, the new job did not pay half as much as the recently lost job and we still lost everything.  But we are still happy and still have each other.  Well to be honest, we have always felt that material things can be let go as long as we had each other.  Here we are four years later proving it!  I can't say there haven't been any trying times, there have been too many.  But we keep surviving.  We look around and know there are people who have it worse than we do.  Oh and yes there is always education sure but without the right amount of money how does one go about paying for it.  Let me see, there are grants yes, wait we make too much money for just two people who doesn't have kids for a grant.  Oh yes that is exactly what I have been told.  Student loans?  No thank you, by the time the interest rate was added after at least four years one could still not survive because of having to pay the loan back.  Right now there are college graduates with doctorates working at minimum wage jobs so what about that college degree that was paid for by someone and not doing the person who earned it any good at this point.  Yes, these are some very good points.  Did it make a difference?  It really doesn't matter because I am being true to myself by being honest with myself.  The road not taken could have led to a different place but for some people it was either blocked by numerous things or detoured by other people.  One can't judge a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes.  No matter for I am still happy and trudging on as are other people.  Thank you to my family and friends for carrying me when I couldn't walk much less crawl.  I am truly blessed for having each one of you.

Treatment Of Veterans

I have the opportunity of  a lifetime by having a Veteran as a Stepfather. He is a great man and has treated my siblings and I like we are his own children. He fought for our country when he was called upon and never thought twice about it. Now his health is not the greatest and goes to VA clinic for his appointments and medications. I have gone on many of these appointments with him and feel a great tragedy is being done to all of our Veterans who depend on our government to uphold their end of promise about benefits. For example, just recently, my stepfather went to visit psychatrist at the VA clinic for a doctor appointed visit. This doctor took him off his seizure medication that has been working for over four years and put him on a different one. Not a week later this man went from walking with a cane and getting around well to wheel chair and looking like he had a major stroke. Needless to say I was not a very happy person. This happened a month ago and there has been very little improvement since his medications have been changed again. I have sit in the clinic with him and watched how our Veterans are ushered around like cattle from line to line and having to sit waiting for over an hour or longer for appointment that was made at a certain time. They come in wheel chairs, on oxygen tanks, walking, barely able to move, and in many other conditions. I feel that they deserve better than this for the sacrafices that they have made. I am not trying to make waves because my stepfather is afraid if I do that he will not receive his full benefits that he is trying to get right now. But it seems to me that he may not receive his benefits at all if the doctors keep up their treatment methods. Who am I the doctor asks, let me tell you!  I am his child that is mad that is who I am.  You have treated this man this way and pretty much used him as a guinea pig but we are suppose to just stand by and let this happen.  This is a  man who has children and grandchildren.  This man has fought in war to help our country and foreign countries.  He has righted many wrongs and been an example for us all who have had the privilege of calling him Dad, brother, and friend.  I have seen this man laugh, love, shed tears, worry, and make do on what he has. He has not ever ask for much.  When needed he has always been there for us and given us advice. He is a Patriotic American who always calls his brothers that he fought with and checks on them. He would go to the ends of the earth for anyone if asked to do so. Yet the government turns a blind eye on him and hundreds like him. Is this going to be the future medical care that our troops who are fighting now are going to receive when they return?  I surely hope not! All veterans deserve better treatment than this.  I know without a doubt that there are many more stories out there like this one. What happen to the checks and balances system in our country.  As a nation of Americans we should stand up for our veterans, if for no other reason because we care.  Our Veterans won't say anything about their treatment because of the fact that they are dealing with the government on getting their benefits and know without a doubt that they can be turned down without any reason what so ever.  They go to war to fight and then have to come back home and fight for what they rightfully deserve.  How is this okay?  How can we keep turning a blind eye?  If this was happening to one of us, this man would be fighting mad.  I am so very proud to call this man my stepfather and hero.  I hope to not only to be able to tell him but show him as well.  Thank you Pop and to every Veteran for all that you have done and continue to go through.  Words may not ever be enough but they come from the heart.