I have bursitis. At least, I think I have bursitis. First I thought it was the return of my adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder), but since my shoulder isn’t really frozen and just hurts like H.E. Double Toothpicks (that’s for my mom, may her memory be a blessing), I’m going with bursitis. I could go to the doctor, but I know what he’d tell me: Ice it, take something like Advil or Aleve, and give it a rest. So why waste my time and money scheduling a visit when I can treat me on my own? Of course, if I ever suspected I had something serious, like symptoms of a heart attack or a sharp pain in my gut, I’d get to a doctor right away, or even the emergency room. But it’s just bursitis.
When we were growing up, my mother never let us miss a day of school unless we were near death. Once, when Hurricane Donna was headed towards New England, my mother made my brother and me go to school because nothing was announced on the radio about school closings. No sooner had we gotten there (we were nearly the only kids at school besides a handful of teachers) when my mother had to turn around and pick us up because the hurricane was headed right in our direction.
My mother was also of the mind that you could fool your body into thinking you weren’t sick. If we even started to feel a little puny, she said the best thing for us was to take a shower and get dressed because if we lay around in our pajamas, we’d surely feel sicker. Believe it or not, it nearly always worked. Even as an adult, I’ve followed the example of my father. I don’t want to talk about it; I just want to suck it up and get over it with as little fuss as possible. I’m not advocating self diagnosis when you have no clue what’s wrong with you. I just don’t like it when people dwell on every little pain and illness, telling you every detail of what the doctor said and every pill they have to take. Just do what you need to do and get on with it.
Our government is sick, and I don’t think we need a doctor to tell us what’s wrong. Nobody is listening to each other; no one is listening to the people. Isn’t this supposed to be government of the people, by the people, and for the people? This debt crisis has been a fiasco, but it’s not the only thing that’s been a huge problem. We’ve gotten to the point that neither party wants the other party’s ideas to succeed because it might affect their election hopes. Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell said, after President Obama was elected, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” Seriously? I would think the most important thing to achieve is to get America back to work and to get us fiscally responsible once again.
I have little hope (make that none) that we as a country can ever get back to the greatness we once enjoyed until we make it clear to our leaders that it is all about us, not them. How do we do that? I don’t really know, but I know we, the people, are the key. I’m at the point of voting everyone out and starting all over again. I don’t care what party they’re from. If we keep voting the same people in over and over again, we’ll keep getting the same terrible results. We are the physicians and our patient is sick. We need potent medicine.
Coming East 
I’m so frustrated with politics and politicians. They seem to have forgotten that their purpose is to serve. Instead they act like athletes trying to win a game. They don’t seem to realize that it’s not about them. I wish I knew what to do.
Why do the American people keep voting the same people in? How can they expect different results? I am so sick of politics as usual.
I like how you connected your own ailment (hopefully shortlived!) to the situation with our national government. I agree with you that the whole bunch of them should be fired. The rest of us would be, for sure, if we performed our jobs as badly as our congresspeople do. I’m about ready to give up on my personal blogging for a few days in order to send a message to each and every senator and representative explaining just how dissatisfied I am. Will that do any good? I doubt it…no, I know it won’t…but somehow they need to get the message that there are greater goals than their own political aspirations or even party agendas.
Good for you, Wanda! Even if it won’t do any good and make them change their ways, it might make you feel good to say the things that are on your heart. You could always send them a link to my post, “Physician, Heal Thyself.” LOL!
How do I get to your blog?
Huh, I thought my hyperlinked name went to my blog. Learned something else today, I guess. Anyway, I’m at http://tidbitsandtreasures2011.wordpress.com.
Thanks, Wanda. I wanted to visit.
Well done! I found myself agreeing with everything you wrote!
Great! Now would you please come up with a solution? LOL! Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy.
Before I comment on the health of this country, I have to say that growing up, my parents (dad especially) thought that all sickness was psychological. If I had a headache or didn’t feel well, there was some mental reason for it. God forbid I was actually sick. And now about the country, I feel like it’s truly sad and awful how this country is sinking. And I don’t blame Obama or Bush; but everyone. It’s years and years of neglect on so many levels. It’s just so sad how low we’ve come. Still I hope that we – as a country – can climb out. It will take a long time. But if we’re patient, we may just persevere.
I agree; there is not just one person to blame. It’s the result of years of bad decisions that have resulted in this mess, and it’s going to take longer than one person’s term in office. But I would at least like to see us making some progress, and we seem to be at a stalemate because neither party will cooperate with each other. Thanks for your comment, Leah. And I don’t think illness is always psychological; neither did my mother. I hope you didn’t think that’s what I was saying.
Very slick segue from bursitis and nostalgia to politics. I never knew what hit me. I agree, by the way and fear that only a disaster that unites us all will cure what ails us. I thought for a while that 9-11 would do it but we forgot what it felt like to be together again entirely too soon.
You are so right, Bud. You would think that the unemployment rate being over 9% would be enough to unite us, but it isn’t. I know it’s very complicated and I’m not knowledgeable about trade agreements, but why can’t we make it unprofitable to farm our work overseas so we can put our people back to work? If we could pay our debts, we wouldn’t be beholding to other countries. By the way, the transition (or lack of one) threw my husband, too.
I too often put off physical diagnose… Hope you will get a treatment to ease the pain.
McConnell’s outrageous statement was nothing but irresponsible. Their irresponsibility got the country to this point. People are suffering is because of their self-serving goal, like his “single most important thing to achieve.”
Great post! Thank you!
Unfortunately, people keep voting for these jokers! You get what you vote for. Why don’t people get it? Thanks, Amy.
You are right, we are sick…but I think we are undiagnosed. I think the real problem is a heart problem, and I’m not sure how to fix that except to pray…
You hit the nail on the head–a heart problem. Great diagnosis! Wish we had a cure.
I totally agree that the government has stopped doing its job! It seems that once upon a time, the parties battled until an election but then most came together to move forward…at least untill we got closer to the next election.Was I just young and naive? I was also disgusted by Mitch McConnell’s comment. Is iit even possible to find an admirable politician? I’d love to get involved if I knew what might make a difference. Somebody needs to do something.
Take care of the bursitis.
I agree with you that the parties used to do a much better job working together than they do now. Do you think it’s about time for a truly independent party candidate to come forward? Is there any such thing?
A photo on the CNN website shows a billboard that says….You Can’t Fix Stupid But You Can Vote Them Out!
I wish we could vote them all out and start over but where do we find politicians who believe they work “for the people?”
Independents? Is there such a thing truly? Love that billboard. Should be a bumper sticker.
I’m afraid that the politicians are merely a reflection of us- those that bother to vote, that is. A democratic republic is as strong or as weak as its collective citizenry. Perhaps success leads to decline. Think of self-made millionaires who pass on their wealth to their offspring, and within a few generations it is gone, spent by those who have very different attitudes than the one who produced it. My guess is that human nature is at work here. History tends to bear this out.
Doesn’t that worry you? What do you think is the answer? Do you think we can fix this?
Perhaps our governing bodies are taking a form of your advice – but instead of taking a shower and getting dressed, they’re taking vacation and not coming back for a month. Maybe if they stuck around and did some real work, like we all do every day, instead of ditzing around for most of the year, and then pulling 11th hour desperate compromises…probably should not have gotten me started.
Anyway, hope your self-diagnosed bursitis gets better and if your own treatment doesn’t work, there are other measures you might want to explore – physical therapy, deep tissue massage, cortisone injection.
I know this post hit home for a lot of people; it makes us all so mad, doesn’t it! Yeah, I know I might have to eventually call the doctor. I’m just dragging my feet. If it’s not better by Monday, I’ll make an appointment. Was hoping it would go away with a shower and getting dressed!
We are the patients and the patients are sick. Love that. And I agree: We need to start getting involved.
Oops! Typing too fast…Sorry
I don’t know how to make ourselves be heard. I thought it was through voting for someone, but when those someones have only party garbage in mind, I don’t know what we’re supposed to do until the next election. Thanks, Kelly.
You are so right in this matter–I wish the leaders would stop being politicians first–and let us hope things will change. But right now, I am not real optimistic.
I would like to think that most of the country feels like we do, but then why do they keep voting these people in office? We nee a voice, and I don’t know how we get one. I’m so discouraged, and I particularly feel bad for the young people who have inherited this mess. Thanks for your comment, Patti.
I used to tell my kids if they were too sick to go to school, then they were too sick to get out of bed, too sick to watch TV, too sick to even read. Sick wasn’t supposed to be fun at all. If they agreed with me, then I knew they were really sick…
I think your government is sick too, and I hope you all can find a way to make your country healthy again…
Thanks, Margie. We have been such an influence on the rest of the world for so long, what we do affects everyone. We have to do a good job for us, but when we do that, it will help globally also.
I agree, with everything. From the positive attitude, to getting on with life, to not dwelling on illness and pain, and to starting over with our government. I was wondering about starting a grass-roots movement to help make term limits a law. One term ought to be enough. If they were not allowed to be reelected, they could go to work without everything being all about reelection. I’m not sure the founding fathers meant for our elected officials to make a career out of being an elected official.
You know, Robin, the idea of strict term limits is a hard one for me. On the one hand, I hear what you’re saying and agree that it might make them work without worrying about getting reelected. On the other hand, if we get someone really good in office, I’d like the option of having them return to keep working for me. I don’t know what the answer is. I just know that our government has stopped doing its job. Thanks for your comment.
I agree with you and your Mom, a positive attitude helps keep us healthier and helps us heal faster too.
🙂
Thanks, E.C. 🙂