Maybe We Shouldn't
A poem about the USA's healthcare system
With the killing of UHC’s CEO and the state of health insurance in US, I thought about a way to respond to the system that isn’t extreme violence. A way to fight without fighting.
Maybe We Shouldn't
Maybe we shouldn’t pay for drugs to send the pain below
Maybe we shouldn’t
Maybe we shouldn’t go into ruinous debt to stay alive
Maybe we shouldn’t
There was a time not long ago
Where we lived best we could
And died when we couldn’t
And suffered with little comfort
Maybe we shouldn’t drug ourselves into civility
Maybe we shouldn’t
Maybe we shouldn’t believe we’re entitled to life saving treatment
Maybe we shouldn’t
For if the price of life and sanity is infinite
There is no price too high,
There is no price we won’t pay
To not go crazy or die
Maybe we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking we’ll live forever
Maybe we shouldn’t
Maybe we shouldn’t enrich those who don't care if we live or die
Maybe we shouldn’t
The best way to fight a system
Though not the easiest way
Is not by trying to change it
But to move away
To not raise arms,
But lower them,
And to refuse to play by another's terms
Maybe we should strive to make our healthcare system better
But —
There’s too much money and power, and too little empathy
So maybe…
Maybe we shouldn’t
Thanks for reading!