Weeping for my country...

I have cried many times since the Republican Senators released their heath care bill.  I have cried for myself and what might happen to me.  I have diabetes and may not be able to get coverage.  I have cried for the brave people who showed up at Senator Mitch McConnell's office in Washington D.C., most of whom where in wheelchairs, and some of whom were actually removed from their wheelchairs by Capital police.  What a heartbreaking and utterly heartless moment.  This is who we are now?  This is what we do now?  We forcibly remove people in wheelchairs even if it means removing them from their wheelchairs to do that?

I have avoided watching the video of the young boy clinging to his mother as ICE agents took her into custody because she is undocumented.  I could not watch.  Is this who we are now?  Is this what we do now?  Rip families apart to satisfy some false fantasy that by doing so we will make our country great again or safe again?

How heartless do people have to be to think what is happening to undocumented immigrants and their families is acceptable?  How heartless do people have to be to believe that people do not deserve to have access to affordable healthcare and help to afford it if they cannot?  How divided have we become that we believe only certain groups deserve rights?  Only the rich deserve breaks?  How did we arrive at this moment in time and not have learned anything from our past?  From the struggles?  From the fights for equality?  From the people who fought to protect our country at any cost, even their lives?

The Civil War ended May 9, 1865.  The steps we have taken to move forward have been difficult, slow and filled with setbacks.  Yet people persisted and made strides and kept moving toward that "more perfect Union" the Constitution was written to create.  The Constitution was the beginning and each generation has been given the responsibility to continue on that path.  Some generations succeeded in moving toward that "more perfect Union" while other generations, determined to push the country back to some mythical past that never really was, gained control.  But eventually, those obstacles were overcome and we moved sometimes a step, sometimes only half a step, but still forward.

I weep for my country.  Just as I am certain others in generations before me also wept for this country.  I tried to find some solace in knowing the past, knowing what we have overcome and what we can overcome.  But it will take something we have not seen yet in this present Congress.  It will require members of Congress to stand up and say that they will not accept what is happening in our country.  I weep because I am not certain that there are enough members of Congress with the courage to do that.