- Logtar's Blog -

“There are no stupid questions” is a statement that fits most situations, but for some reason most people today know everything and want to correct your wicked ways.

I grew up Catholic and still practice. I am sure there are plenty of bad Catholics out there and I am certanly not a good one or a perfect one. I a very biased when it comes to this religion because most of the priests and monks that I have met, have been very educated and amazing people. The teachers I had that were clergy really wanted me to learn how to think on my own and I learned to be critical of ideas and just accept them.

Some people take religion and mix it with spirituality and a hint of brainwashing and come up with a shield of vengence. I don’t have an issue with what people believe or don’t believe. In fact I would say there is a good portion of my friends that don’t believe in anything but respect what I believe in. I am developing a dislike for people that follow what others say like sheep, and I am starting to lean towards blaming religion for some of it. When you get used to just taking what someone says and not digesting it and truly processing it, it really bothers me. Like the preacher that empties their congregation’s wallet and tells them to give more, hat God will privide because they don’t need money; but himself drives a jaguar and a harley on sunny days.

There is a religion; that I will not name those familiar will know what I am talking about, that is against blood transfusion. Years ago had to become very familiar with the “rule” because I loved one was going to refuse part of their care because “religious” beliefs. Thankfully rationa thought was achieved and the episode was over, but I will never forget what almost happened. Ever since I have kept my distance from that denomination.

I know some people of that denomination and recently I was on my way to donate blood. I love doing it whenever I can because it saves lives. Started back in highschool and whenever it has been convenient I would do it. I stopped it for a while when I lived in Michigan becas my doctor was totally against the local organization that managed the blood, but now that I am here in Chicago again, lifesource is a great organization and they make it very convenient.

As I mentioned, I was going to donate blood and what first came out was a very amazed, “You do that?”

I answered, “Yesp, every time I can”

Then the ignorance (maybe even willing) surfaced, “What about the infections? you can catch something.”

Now, I know this person is of that particular denomination so I kind of knew where the comment was coming from… but I was surprised as how the argument was being presens… seriously, I am going to catch something from donating blood? I held back and simply replied. “You can probably catch a worse infection from a door handler.” and went on my merry way.

I never thought that someone would actually try to discourage me from giving blood with missinformation, but there you have it. So I wanted to counter that missinformation with some cool information that hopefully you alreay knew about.

Taken from LifeSource’s website.

“Scratch a pessimist and you find often a defender of privilege.”
- William Beveridge

As tempting as it is to talk about Healthcare Reform I am writing about this for myself, I would like to look back and this post years from now and see if I still have the same ideas. Even though I do work for the insurance industry, and worked for hospitals before. I had the opportunity to learn a lot about at least the money side of things, and still think I am not qualified to really inform anyone about this topic. To me a lot of this debate comes from a simple difference in the way we think about things being a privilege or a right.

Lets start out by defining those two words that are often misunderstood by most people;

Right – a moral, ethical, or legal principle considered as an underlying cause of truth, justice, morality, or ethics.

Privilege – the principle or condition of enjoying special rights or immunities.

A privilege is something that is not enjoyed by all, it is only a “special right” to some. Kind of like on the scripts of the 80s shows like the A-Team where someone has diplomatic immunity, that is a privilege. Knowledge is not a privilege, it should be a right, but for some time now it has taken a back seat to fantasy.

Back in the middle ages things seemed a little less obscure, everyone knew what was going on in the castle and well eventually it lead to French monarchs having their heads roll down a hill. Today we pay lots of taxes, sometimes even more (amount wise) than countries that have better social services, and everyone is scared of spending money but forget how much we spend for war.

The reality of the situation is that most of us don’t know how “the system” works. We don’t know if someone living with government help gets 800 bucks a week per child so they can be in daycare. We don’t know if someone is on their 7th child and they just named them Paycheck. Our taxes pay for all of those things and we just sit back and hope for oversight, for someone to make sure that programs that are supposed to be helping the people that needed, don’t abuse it.

Again it is all about knowledge and the right to have it, not the privilege to know. We don’t know what the situation is for the people currently abusing “the system.” We don’t know how many people take more pennies than they leave behind at the tray, we just simply don’t have the knowledge. The moment that someone wants to know more, control more, have more transparency people start yelling about privacy.

It would be great to be self sufficient, it would be amazing to not need roads and infrastructure. If you want that, an commune is waiting for you just around the cornfield.

To enjoy being part of a society we have to get used to its rules. We have to respect the fact that we are part of a system that is not perfect but will not change without action and involvement. Most important, it will not be changed without knowledge… and be very careful where you acquire that knowledge from.

I have been wrong in the past and supported at least mentally a president on a decision before. I might be wrong this time around but I am an optimistic and want things to work out not just for me but for everyone that is part of this great nation. As tempting as it is I will not even go into details about how some of this is life and death to a lot of people and some even close to me.

So if you believe that only some people deserve to know, and most of us cannot handle the truth, then move along and continue to be a pessimist about not just the country but about life because I find a lot of truth on the quote that I opened up with. Also click on the link and read some of the other quotes by that dude… look at the dates of his life and his mini bio, it is very interesting how history works sometimes.