Feverish Rant

I’ve been battling a tedious head cold this week. Enough to keep me home on Tuesday. But more a nuisance than anything. Enough to knock the wind out of me for a few days. It made me grumpier, because I don’t have the stamina for a run on this perfect first week of longer days. I’m not resting my voice as well I should… but in spite of that… I am approaching a mend.

I forget how much it sucks to be sick. I mean… I know I don’t want to be sick. But I forget how I hate when my mind still functions and my body won’t cooperate. I tell myself I will remember and take better advantage of my healthy days… but there is always some new distracting vexation like a parking ticket or news of Sandra Bullock’s breakup to remind me that life has more important things to keep in the front of my mind and care about.

We all get sick. Some of us take better care of our bodies and reduce the frequency of feverish days on the couch. But eventually our organic matter is going to breakdown and succumb to the viruses and bacteria. But as long as we don’t have to think about that RIGHT now, then why should it be a problem RIGHT now?

And if it is a problem for anyone else… well, it sucks that they get sick, too. Of course it does. Especially if they breathe on me and make me sick. But if they have the misfortune for bad health… well, it isn’t really my problem now, is it? Because I’m healthy. I can bitch and moan about how the City of Boston ripped me off because I parked illegally and lament the libido of Jesse James. Much more important than taking money out of MY wallet to pay for someone else to stay healthy.

Last night I turned on a report about the healthcare protests on Beacon Hill. They were interviewing random people enjoying the premature spring on Boston Common. A lot of it blurred in my memory as the same old same old arguments repeated. But the argument of one woman lingers in my brain. She agreed that, yeah, everyone deserves healthcare, but she doesn’t want to pay for it.

Maybe the fact I haven’t felt 100% this week gives this debate some more resonance. Or maybe… maybe the thing that really makes me feel ill is the fact so many people in this country would rather not remember how much it sucks to be sick. Because they don’t want to give up their money.

Not that we aren’t already paying for it. All those taxes we’re afraid are going to leak out of our paychecks… um, that money is already going to the insurance companies. Even as we debate this issue, the rates are increasing. While unemployment is in double digits and several people are making do without a raise or less income already. 

But they have to. Big business has to pay for its… benefits. No, the problem with healthcare costs is malpractice suits. All those litigious patients and the doctors who just don’t care enough. That’s going to make the system better. It’s going to help sick people get well. 

Well… then there is something even more scary than dying. Socialism. Oooh. Terrifying. If we take care of sick people, that means the government is going to start invading our homes and deciding that we have to provide quarters for our military. Because that’s what those crazy British did to us. And taxed us on stuff like molasses and stamps… to pay for loopy Georgie Porgie’s wigs. Oh… but… they weren’t socialists yet. They’ve devolved since then. Yeah… it’s a scary place England. When I lived there, I had to fight off the number of people anxious to get in my suitcase to escape the evils of their public healthcare system. 

So maybe I’m still grumpy from not being able to go out for a run. Maybe I suffer my own loopy logic from the remnants of my fever. Or maybe… maybe I just remember that it sucks to be sick.