Still an Optimist

This past week my daughter and I traveled to Washington DC.  I had business and she was on fall break, so it seemed like a good place to meet up, catch up and see some sights.

One of our rules of travel, no matter where we go, is that we do something we have never done before and that we learn a new piece of information we find particularly interesting, compelling or curious.  During this visit we saw the Martin Luther King monument, spent a day at the Newseum and took a private tour of the Woodrow Wilson House.  In addition, we just happened upon a Columbus Day event at the Library of Congress and saw the Stop the Machine protesters at the Freedom Plaza.   As is often the case, each activity evoked a conversation about history, politics and public policy.

I must admit, I was a relatively naïve activist when I was my daughters age (a college junior).  She is not.  She sees herself as a realist.  While she admires the courage and determination of the people memorialized at the different venues around town, she is not particularly optimistic that things can change for the better.  She questions the value of government, feeling that the huge bureaucracy as built can only fail. She wonders when new leaders will emerge and what events might actually get citizens to work together on issues of common good.  She is not sure that the collective voice of people without money and power can add value in creating a new vision and direction for the country.

I understand how she feels because I am often tempted to adopt the same attitude when I hear people talk about  “health care reform”. Can we really fix the health care crisis?  Can we even agree on what drives or defines the health care crisis?  Can we manage the multiple bureaucracies that seem so intent on maintaining the status quo?  Can anyone make a difference when the constraints of time and resources are so very limited?  Can a collective voice inform and influence a new course?

Through my work with the Buyers Health Care Action Group, I have had the good fortune of seeing, first hand, what a group of like-minded and motivated individuals can do when they work together.  I have seen leaders emerge with a vision for the future.  I have seen people engage in activities that precipitated significant change.  “Health care reform” again presents us with opportunities to rethink our current patterns of behavior, envision a better future and work with others to create a better way.  There is no better time than now, and no better way than together.

I hope my daughter has the same good fortune.