It’s Up to You and Me
You’re a firefighter. You arrive on this scene. Do you look for the owner to ask who they voted for, or roll out and get to work?
If you screamed, “Get to work,” then please read and share this!
An astute resident helped investigators capture a man suspected of starting a fire that engulfed a historic Victorian home in Pasadena.
She was standing by the front door, ready for school. I was barely six feet away, grabbing backpacks. It was the first day of school.
“Stupid hole,” she said. I thought she’d stepped on a soft spot in the floor.
Turning around, I noticed her struggling to stand up. She was kinda slumped against the wall and going down. It reminded me of being a kid with my knee on my oversized coat, keeping me from standing up after kneeling on it after tying my shoes.
“Okay, kid. Hold on a sec — let me help you up,” I said, reaching under her arms to pick her up. Her head rolled back into my arms, eyes wide open and she was trembling. She was experiencing a seizure.
I’ve worked with people who have seizures. I know the protocol. But this time I was looking into the eyes of my seven-year-old. I rolled her on her side and made sure she didn’t choke on the froth coming from her mouth. Her teeth gritted tightly as she struggled to breathe.
She was making this noise from exhaling heavily through her mouth and nose. I was on the floor beside her, holding her head still and making sure to keep her airway open. I was freaking out. I know why people have seizures. My daughter hadn’t hit her head or fallen. She hadn’t done anything that normally triggers this.
I freaked out as I waited for the ambulance, cradled her head, and continued whispering while keeping my eyes locked with hers. “You’re gonna be fine, baby girl. You’re gonna be alright. You’re gonna be fine, just keep breathing. Stay with me,” I continued whispering while holding back tears.
I don’t know why Rand Paul popped into my mind. But nearly three minutes into this, while waiting for EMS, my mind raced, pouring over every possible cause.
The truth is, I was having an epiphany.
If my kid has some rare brain cancer, or something that requires top-level health care, she’d be as good as dead. If the Senator’s (and I don’t even know if he has kids) daughter had the same rare brain cancer, she’d be fine.
The ambulance showed finally about four minutes after we called, and my Emmy was coming out of it. The paramedics began preparing her for transport and the doing first responder stuff. Thank goodness for our first responders.
It would turn out to be an anomaly. We visited the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters over ten times. Every possible neurological and cognitive testing was performed, and they basically told us that sometimes these things happen, and they have no idea why.
The epiphany: There are tens of millions of Americans who would be affected just like my family if this happened to them or their child. Instead of talking about it, we fight on Facebook over Coke vs Pepsi. If we want to heal and unite, we should embrace this idea.
I first wrote about it back then. It was like a lightning bolt hit me. I’d been trying to decipher the code of hatred and division. They are separate and a partnership, simultaneously. Hatred and division have captivated the American mind.
Example: You move to a new neighborhood in a tornado zone. First tornado to affect you puts a tree on and through your home. And neighbors you haven’t even met, have never spoken with, will show up with a chainsaw to offer help. They don’t know you, but they have been what you’re going through now.
Another example: I have never known a first responder to show up to a housefire or automobile wreck and before immediately running towards the problem, paused and asked: “so, who’d you vote for?”
Does anybody understand that? I mean, really understand what the fuck I am trying desperately to say to whomever reads this? People have been where and what we are. All of us have ancestors who fought and died to make our lives better than their own.
“What’s goin’ on?” as Marin Gaye so sorrowfully and poignantly asked. “What’s happenin’, brother?” was another question. He sang from the perspective of a buddy returning returning from Viet Nam:
“Hey baby, what’cha know good?
I’m just gettin’ back, but you knew I would
War is hell, when will it end,
When will people start gettin’ together again
Are things really gettin’ better, like the newspaper said
What else is new my friend, besides what I read
Can’t find no work, can’t find no job my friend
Money is tighter than it’s ever been
Say man, I just don’t understand
What’s going on across this land
Ah what’s happening brother,
Ay, what’s happening, what’s happening my man
Are they still gettin’ down where we used to go and dance?
Will our ball club win the pennant?
Do you think they have a chance?
And tell me friend, how in the world have you been?
Tell me what’s out and I want to know what’s in
What’s the deal man, what’s happening
What’s happening brother
What’s happening brother
Ah what’s happening brother
What’s happening my man
Ah what’s happening brother” - Marvin Gaye
Man, today we fight just to fight over dumb shit. It’s easier than healing the self. That’s all we’ve really got to do. I don’t give a damn what set you claim! Red, Blue, Left or Right?
Tell me people, what’s wrong with you. And what can I do to make it right? Because I say this, uncharacteristically:
I shit you not, my heart is broken. My brain is full — like a fucking bloody thought–soaked sponge, and no election or law will do a thing to fix it, as long as we live to kill each other.
So, on the real…how y’all doing? Can I help you, whoever you are? Will you help me if I ever need it? I’m not asking now. Despite my melancholy, I got it. Coping skills, pen, paper, and punk rock.
“Don’t care what you may say, we got that attitude!
Don’t care what you may do, we got that attitude!
YEEEAAAAAHHHH! WE GOT THAT PMA! YEEEAAAAAHHHH! WE GOT THAT PMA!
We got that attitude!” -HR Paul Joseph I Hudson, Bad Brains
Positive Mental Attitude is for all of us. If you don’t change anything else today, you can change your mind about the way you look at one thing. Then watch it grow. Pass it one.
A crooked, crumbling empire is up for grabs, and it’s up to all of us to love and look out for all of us.
PGR-
