Skip to main content

Memorial Day 2023 - Freedom is not Free

Image
By

I have never served in the armed forces, but I have enormous respect for our veterans and for those  who serve now.  My father served for 39 months during World War II.  Fortunately, he was not placed in harm's way.  During that era, nearly every young male served joining together in an existential conflict between good and evil.  This experience bound the entire nation together in a shared purpose with shared sacrifice.  

Our nation so desperately needs an experience that will transcend our divisions to unite us as Americans.  Is there a moonshot out there that we could all rally behind?   Is there a leader in sight who can bring us together?  What if we could agree on our country's top 3 goals and then join forces to achieve them?

Hey wait, I have an idea.  What if a deadly pandemic swept across the nation that could have the potential of causing over a million fatalities?  Facing this common enemy, we would surely become united against a deadly foe that was striking wildly with abandon  Afterwards, we would emerge as one nation and would resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.  

Readers might recognize the italic phrase above taken from some brief remarks made by Lincoln at a battlefield cemetery. 

Back to reality.  That a pandemic not only put millions of us in hospitals, intensive care units, on ventilators and in cemeteries, but it also made us more angry at each other and more divided than we have been in decades. I still can't grasp this.  Alas, there is no vaccine against anger and hatred, although we desperately need one.



Union soldiers at Gettysburg who 
gave  the last full measure of devotion

On this Memorial Day we honor the fallen who have given their lives so that we can be free.  Let us also do our best to also remember and honor those who were taken from us these past 3 years.  We might reflect on an iconic phase in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, with malice toward none with charity for all... Our nation was even more divided then and yet was brought together.  Do we want to build bridges or blow them up?  So much malice.  So little charity.  Is this the best we can do?

Wishing everyone a meaningful Memorial Day.









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stop Medical Malpractice: The White Coat Wall of Silence

By
Photo Credit Leisure Guy, one of my most faithful commenters, opines that I am omitting an important aspect of the tort reform argument. He has implored me repeatedly to read a particular book that I suspect buttresses his views, but this worthy pursuit is simply not near the top of my priority pyramid. Since he’s retired, he enjoys the luxury of burrowing deeply into the base of his priority pyramid. With 4 tuitions to go, retirement is a distant mirage for me. I’m can be a ‘leisure guy’, but only in my dreams. I have written throughout this blog and elsewhere that there are too many frivolous lawsuits against physicians. I have admitted that caps on non-economic damages are not ideal, because they deny some worthy plaintiffs of complete compensation, but I support them because I believe they serve the greater good. I have ranted that there is no effective filter to screen out physicians who should never be invited to the litigation party in the first place. I believe that the...
113 comments
Read more

When Should Doctors Retire?

By
I am asked with some regularity whether I am aiming to retire in the near term.  Years ago, I never received such inquiries.  Why now?   Might it be because my coiffure and goatee – although finely-manicured – has long entered the gray area?  Could it be because many other even younger physicians have given up their stethoscopes for lives of leisure? (Hopefully, my inquiring patients are not suspecting me of professional performance lapses!) Interestingly, a nurse in my office recently approached me and asked me sotto voce that she heard I was retiring.    “Interesting,” I remarked.   Since I was unaware of this retirement news, I asked her when would be my last day at work.   I have no idea where this erroneous rumor originated from.   I requested that my nurse-friend contact her flawed intel source and set him or her straight.   Retirement might seem tempting to me as I have so many other interests.   Indeed, reading and ...
69 comments
Read more

Prostate Cancer Screening: Stop The PSA Train!

By
About 10 years ago, my dad was to see his general internist. I have always refrained from giving medical advice to my family, for all of the reasons why doctors should not treat or advise their relatives. But, on this occasion, I did give Dad some unsolicited advice, particularly as I knew that his physician fired the diagnostic testing trigger readily. “Dad, please make sure that he doesn’t check the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test.” Dad indicated that he would convey my concern to his doctor, who ran the test on him anyway. Apparently, he includes the PSA test as a matter of routine on all men over a certain age. Twenty-five years ago as a curious, but skeptical medical student, I learned about prostate cancer. I learned that every man will develop it if he lives long enough. I learned that most cases of prostate cancer remain silent and never interfere with the individual’s life. I learned that the treatment for these cancers involves either major surgery or radiation, both of ...
74 comments
Read more