100 People

 

In Japan there is a beautiful story which is taught in schools to elementary students called "100 People". Here is a link to the version posted online (you have to scroll  down to see it in English).

This is the gist of it (I am quoting) . . .

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1!) would have a college education
1 would own a computer

So, American reader, picture yourself living in this village with 99 other people.

You'd have a computer, be able to read, have plenty of food to eat, live in a nice house. How about those others? Look at them. Half of them skin and bones from starving. Most of them darkies or Asians. 4 out of 5 living in hovels, shanties, lean-to structures made out of corrugated metal or cardboard. That would suck. Talk about messing with the property value of your splendid home.

If you found yourself in the uncomfortable position of having to stand in a line with nine others, odds would have it one of them would be a homosexual. Hey! Maybe it's you and you didn't know.

If you are a heterosexual male, things look good. There are a few extra women around. Unfortunately, if you wrote them a love letter, most of them couldn't read it.

Are you the one lucky enough to have a college degree? No. Then it's probably your American neighbor living next door in that tacky McMansion with all of the electrified barb wire on top of the high stone walls. Wonder if they need to borrow your computer.


It wouldn't be very crowded in that Presbyterian church you go to. A third of you would either be on the altar or in the choir. There would be a mixture of languages being spoken, but mostly English and various European tongues.

When you left church, above the filth and human excrement you'd probably smell a lot of incense. Those Buddhists and Hindus really love their incense.

Wait! What's with that guy laying in the middle of the road? Is he the town drunk? It looks like he's barely breathing. And what about that woman squatting over by the tree? There's water on the ground in front of her. Is that a kid about to squirt out from between her legs?


Anyway, you get the picture.


What makes this story amazing is the perspective it offers to us in the West, particularly those of us who live in "Christian" America. It is convenient to think that everybody is the same, that everyone looks pretty much the way we do, thinks the way we do, lives the way we do, worships the same way we do.

I've been traveling for over six years. 21 countries on three continents. Not to sound racist or glib, but from what I've been seeing, most people in the world don't have our "round" eyes. Most do not have our fair skin. Most don't accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior or believe He was the Son of God.

Do we have a right to condemn these folks?

For example, you fundamentalist Christian blowhards and you homophobes. Do you really want to exterminate all of the gay people in the world? Doing the math, you're looking at killing about 770,000,000 people. It seems like your trigger finger would get tired after the first 100,000,000 or so.

Doing more math, are you Christian evangelists and missionary types serious about imposing your religion on almost 5 billion people who seem pretty darn determined to worship whoever they now worship, who just happens to not be God or Jesus? You might want to think twice. You're vastly outnumbered. You don't want to piss off that many people, no matter how strongly you believe yours is the only way to go.

The story line for "100 People" continues and again I am quoting.

The following points are also something else to ponder:
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ...
you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness
of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ...
you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death ...
you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back,
a roof overhead and a place to sleep ...
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet,
and spare change in a dish someplace ...
you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still alive and still married ...
you are very rare.
If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

What's the lesson here?

The obvious one is how privileged we "westerners" and particularly we Americans are. That I am writing this and you are reading this on a computer, using basic instructional tools and intellectual skills which we take for granted, alone puts us in a very small elite class. That we have choices __ what clothes to wear, what car to drive, where to live, what church or synagogue to attend __ and the freedom to make those many choices is itself an immeasurable blessing. That most of us don't have to worry about where our next meal is coming from is a gift which borders on miraculous. Do you know that 33,000 people die every day of starvation?

But there is a dark side to the conclusions we often draw as well.

Many of us view this as evidence of our superiority, or more to the point, evidence of the inferiority of others less privileged. We easily dismiss those who are less fortunate as less deserving. It evolves into the unstated but firmly entrenched judgment that those who are substantially different must be primitive, less than human, or not human at all. In war the enemy is a savage beast who must be extinguished, tracked and killed like animals.

Maybe it's time to grow up. Maybe it's time to reach out to those others in the village, learn about them, find commonalities but respect the differences, and most of all realize that all of this affluence we take for granted is an extremely tenuous arrangement. In terms of the entire historical record, the bounty and excess now shared among the tiny minority of us in America and the European nations represents only the tiniest blip of time. It's really an anomaly and could quickly disappear. We could very quickly find ourselves asking our fellow villagers tips on making a nice lean-to or finding edible roots for dinner.


The vast wealth that we in the West take for granted is a positive thing. It is good fortune and a luxurious road for us to venture our way through our enviable lives.

But it's not a license to dismiss, condemn, or destroy others who don't have what we have. And it's certainly not a mandate to build military bases and more McDonald's wherever our blind ambition points us.

I solicit any and all comments on this article.




[ This originated a the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

“It’s too complicated.”

 

There's a smugness that has overwhelmed our political system.

 It's the patronizing, know-it-all, self-congratulating, self-important smugness of our elected officials. 

We want to know why they vote the way they do. Their reply . . .

"It's complicated."

There are huge majorities of Americans, crossing all party lines and affiliations, who agree on a number of issues:

•    End the war in Afghanistan and bring the troops home
•    Reduce the military budget
•    End oil subsidies and other forms of corporate welfare
•    Make the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes
•    Eliminate tax loopholes and incentives for sending jobs overseas
•    Leave Social Security alone
•    Leave Medicare alone
•    Include the public option in our health care delivery system

Yet, consistently our elected representatives __ on both sides of the aisle __ vote against these things. Or judging by what we read in the press are obviously considering doing so.

Why?

"We are professionals. You see, when drafting legislation there's so much to consider. There are things you folks out there don't know. It's too complicated."

Sorry. I don't buy it.

Here's what I say to this blather:

"Mr. Elected Official, I'll tell you what's complicated. Voting for YOU is complicated."

"You say one thing and do another. You make all sorts of high-sounding, pleasant enough speeches when you want my vote. You make me believe you are actually going to do the job I am electing you to do. Then, you vote the opposite. You vote the way some rich corporate donor, some big-money Wall Street executive, some lobbyist who showers you with favors and campaign contributions, you vote the way THEY want you to vote."

"So, Mr. Elected Official, don't ask me why I didn't vote for you this time around. Don't come crying and pleading for an explanation."

"It's too complicated."


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Repo Man vs. Retro Man

                                                   A race to the bottom in reverse.

There's speculation that the recent devastating disclosures about Mitt Romney will force him to either withdraw or be withdrawn from the presidential race at the upcoming Republican convention.

My immediate reaction?

Awesome!

Maybe the GOP will succumb to their most extreme theater-of-the-absurd impulses and put up a ticket of Michele Bachmann and Ted Nugent.

Then I read that the only other Republican candidate with a significant number of delegates is Ron Paul.

Okay. Not quite as interesting as a Bachmann/Nugent ticket. But right up there. It would be an entertaining, if not altogether ridiculous spectacle.

Repo Man vs. Retro Man.

Obama, the slick hustler who is foreclosing on the American Dream for all his Wall Street buddies, running against Paul who with a straight face wants to return America to the glorious days of the 19th Century.

America would be glued to their TVs to watch this battle of the prestidigitators, one with the charm and charisma of David Copperfield who is making the Middle Class disappear, the other who would invite us all to join him in his Time Machine as he jams it into reverse.

Would the voting public finally wake up to what a sham these elections have become?

Nah! Probably not.

They'd just hit that snooze button for four more years.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

The joke’s on us!

                        "They'll make you laugh and they'll make you cry."

One of these men is a well-known, widely regarded comedian and actor who has appeared in over sixty films, numerous television shows, and has brought tears of joy and laughter to countless numbers of people across the globe.

The other one is a well-known, widely regarded comedian and actor, who uses his role as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to suck up to Wall Street, big banks, and the wealthy oligarchs who are plundering America, and is a man who would corporatize his own mother if he and his rich friends could figure out how to make money on the IPO.

Both have the power to communicate their quirky, surrealistic view of the world and affect the lives of millions of people.

But only one has the power to impose his quirky, surrealistic vision on an unsuspecting citizenry and destroy America as a recognizable and functioning democracy.

The joke's on us!

I'm laughing so hard it hurts!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

Gasp!


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


 

Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

 

After the 2000 election, I had a neighbor who wouldn't speak to me for several months. He was an ardent Democrat, a supporter of Al Gore, who knew that I voted for Ralph Nader. In his view, people of my ilk had cost Gore the election by frivolously voting our consciences.

Put aside the fact the abundant evidence that in Florida alone there was massive election fraud, the disenfranchisement of over 30,000 voters by a scrubbing of the voting rosters, a huge preponderance of which would have voted Democratic. Ignore the fact that Gore, or at least his legal team, proved to be spineless and just caved to the absurd Supreme Court ruling on the recount. Discount the role played by Kathleen Harris, the Secretary of State in Florida at the time responsible for certifying the results of the election, who was a hard core Republican and made no attempt to hide her bias. Overlook the obvious irregularities in the recount itself.

It was all my fault that King George was installed on the presidential throne.

So here we are again, confronted by a "clear choice" between an enlightened, gentile and beneficent Barack Obama and the crude, barbaric, corporate predator, Mitt Romney.

What to do?

People warn, "Too much is at stake. Don't throw your vote away!"

I agree. This is not the time to throw our vote away. This is not the time to vote for more of the same and none of what the country needs and deserves.

What does this mean?

Simple . . .

Barack Obama has done some good things over the past three years. Hey! So have I. Does that mean you want me as your president? The ugly truth is, if you look at the big picture, Mr. Obama has done as much to push the too-big-to-fail big bank, Wall Street, corporate agenda than his notorious predecessor. Maybe more.

What does this specifically mean for the coming election?

It means we're again forced to make a choice between Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, as Nader colorfully put it back in 2000. The truth is that under a Romney presidency, we will see a merciless, full-steam plundering of America by corporate interests and the turning of the vast majority of Americans into surf-slaves, and a relentless and thorough destruction of the middle class and America as we know it.

Under another term of Obama as president, we'll see the same thing but cloaked in charm and doublespeak platitudes, more of Michelle's fine taste in clothes and her organic plants in the White House garden, and certainly the humor and eloquence that has established Mr. Obama as one of the most charismatic bullshitters in American history.

In this next presidential election, America doesn't find itself between a rock and a hard place. It finds itself under the rubble. The rubble of deception, hypocrisy, manipulation, and the potential final death rattles of American democracy.

This is a historic juncture. It's time to let the "powers" know we've had enough. We won't be fooled again. Time to cast a vote which sends a message.

Who to vote for? Jim Hightower or Bernie Sanders on a write-in come first to mind.

But the important thing is ABROO . . . anyone but Romney or Obama. And let that anyone be a person of integrity who treats the American voting public like adults, respects them and is not afraid to tell the truth, who has the courage to stand up to the corporate imperialist agenda.

Cast your vote. Send a message.

Then take to the streets.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

My Spinal Surgery: Health Care in Asia

 

At the tail end of my six months of misadventures in India, I lived in Goa for seven weeks. Turning a blind eye to the packs of wild dogs which would attack the lone late night wanderer on the beach and reduce him to a pile of bones, the hordes of hustlers who were always trying to sell overpriced and mostly worthless souvenirs or clean non-existent earwax from my ears, the pot-bellied police who were constantly looking for whatever bribe they could extract from the tourists, and the generally dour and completely mercenary locals who actually populated the place, I have to say I had a truly wonderful time.

To keep fit, I swam over a kilometer every day, making my way through the herds of cows who were nice enough to let me share the seashore with them. I learned the art of stepping over and around copious amounts of cow poop, a skill which here in ultra-sanitary Japan is unfortunately atrophying.

Toward the end of the seven weeks, I noticed a knot in my back between the middle part of my spine and my shoulder blade. I assumed it was just tension, the result of having to go through major negotiations every time I wanted to buy something.

I returned to Japan. This was February 2010.

The "knot" kept getting worse. By late March I was experiencing numbness and increasingly severe pain in my left arm. I became convinced that I had some sort of growth, perhaps a tumor, that was pressing on a nerve. I sought medical attention here in the rural part of Japan where I live. After X-rays and an MRI, one local physician told me I was just falling apart and he doubted anything could be done. Surgery was an option but it was very risky.

Those of you who know me have rarely heard me say anything negative about Japan, even with the tons of radioactive pollutants now pouring into the seas as a result of the horrible mess in Fukushima.  I will say, however, that this doctor's advice was less than helpful and certainly very discouraging. Plus it turned out very wrong.

On the plus side of the Japan equation, I did get substantial aid in my distressed state from a sports doctor here (who shot electricity through my aching arm) and a chiropractic clinic who used massage and a neck stretching and alignment device to try to relieve my agony. By now, believe me, I was in severe agony.

Unfortunately, none of this was helping. But let me just point out something amazing.

Japan has universal health care, meaning there is in place national health insurance. The individual pays a very modest co-pay, the system picks up the tab. Both the sports doctor and the chiropractic clinic, knowing full well I did not have national health insurance, only charged me the co-pay and let the rest of the fee slide. Think about that for just a minute.

Back to the drama.

Nothing was working. By the end of April, my condition was catastrophic. I literally could not be vertical for more than ten minutes. Something was pressing on a nerve in my back. Being vertical increased that pressure. The pain was excruciating. Now it wasn't just my arm that was numb, it was spreading down my left leg. I had trouble walking.

To make matters worse, I was coming up on the end of the 90 days on my visitors visa. That meant I had to leave Japan, then come back in to get a fresh stamp on my passport. This was not good. But I did what I had to do and booked a flight to Seoul. Flights to South Korea are frequent and inexpensive.

I should have had a great time in Seoul. For three days I stayed in a guest house next to a beautiful university, Hongik University which is famous for its Colleges of Design and Fine Arts. The area is a typical "college town" with fantastic restaurants, night clubs, shopping.

But I spent my time there on my back in bed, trying not to moan and disrupt the others in my dorm room.

 

Then I got the call. It was my best friend, lover, companion Masumi Nishida. She had been looking around on the internet to try to find some way to address my disintegration into a worthless cripple and discovered that a world-renowned spine specialist was on staff at a premier facility right there in Seoul called the Wooridul Spine Center. The facility was a huge, fully-staffed  state-of-the-art hospital next to Gimpo Airport, promoting what it called medical tourism. Medical tourism is a recent form of enterprise, encouraging people from around the world to visit and take full advantage of health services.

I wrote them an email, expecting to hear back from them sometime later in the decade.

I got an immediate response! They set up an appointment for me the next day.

It gets better. And I'm not making any of this up . . .

I reported early the next morning __ that itself was a harrowing, painful experience even if the subways in Seoul are among the best in the world __ and spent five hours as follows:

First I met with Dr. Zhang's foreign visitor assistant, a personable and competent young man named Charlie Shim. Then I met with Dr. Zhang himself. That was followed by an X-ray, CATSCAN, and an MRI. I met with Dr. Zhang again to go over the results. He was 90% sure he had identified the problem. Severe compression between the 7th and 8th vertebrae. They would perform a procedure which would confirm his suspicions and possibly temporarily relieve my symptoms.

I was dressed in a highly flattering hospital gown, then put in a surgical CATSCAN, one that allowed real time monitoring of the area of my spine they would be working on. The work consisted __ brace yourself __ inserting a 12" needle at the base of my throat and threading it through all of the nerves, muscles, bones and miscelleous sinew along the way, all the way down to the middle of my spine, and injecting a combination of cortisone and a local anesthetic between the targeted vertebrae.

Immediately after the injection had taken place and they removed that incredibly ominous looking needle, the pain on the left side of my body was gone. I practically jumped up and started dancing.

But they cautioned me. I had to wait 15 minutes. If the pinching on the nerve was too severe, when the anesthetic wore off the pain would return. Unfortunately it did.

Now came my final meeting with Dr. Zhang. He explained where things stood.

Though I was still writhing in unbelievable pain, we had accomplished a lot. As the good doctor pointed out, we now knew exactly where the problem lay. A nerve which served the sensory apparatus in my left arm and had connections down the left side of my body was experiencing 100% compression as a result of the collapse of necessary padding between the two suspect vertebrae. The good news was that this could be corrected by surgery.

My five hours at the Wooridul Spine Center finally came to a close with my paying the bill. Total amount = $562.

Wait! Can this be right? Three meetings and an examination by a world-class and highly renowned spinal surgeon, an X-ray, an MRI, two CATSCANS, and a major procedure involving a needle the length of a car antenna and it came to $562?

Yes, folks. It's true.
Since you're already getting the gist of this posting, I'll make the rest of it as short and sweet as I can, my tendency for being an incurable motor-mouth notwithstanding.

I returned three weeks later for surgery with Dr. Zhang. Charlie Shim had summarized all that was involved. Five days in the hospital. Pre-care. Post-care. Anesthesia, medications, surgery, food, my semi-private room with two other patients. Total estimated at $14,800.

As part of the "pre-care", I was given every test, scan, monitoring known to modern man. Frankly, the facilities at Wooridul are probably as technologically advanced as any in the world. I am despite my advanced years a very healthy guy. With one small noted exception (one heart valve functioning at 68% efficiency), I passed with flying colors, a physiological wonder and testimony to the merits of the regimen of exercise and good diet over most of my life.

After 2 1/2 hours of surgery, they wheeled me back into my room. I emerged from the fog and euphoria of a general anesthetic __ very nice stuff! __ and saw that there were about ten people staring at me. Nurses, assistants, Charlie Shim and Dr. Zhang himself.

"How do you feel, Mr. Rachel?"

How did I feel? Besides groggy?

I felt great!

I started to sit up. They told me just to rest.

Dr. Zhang then told me that my operation went perfectly. He was 100% sure it was a complete success, and if I felt like sitting upright that would be fine.

A nurse helped me up. Not only did I sit up but I stood up. Then I did a little dance. Everyone seemed to think I was crazy but I got a small round of applause.

I spent the next day recovering. During that time I made a promotional video__ I think it is still posted on the Wooridul website __ telling my story and effusively commending everyone involved. I also helped correct some of the English for the promotional material on the facility, working along side Charlie, who was responsible for such things.

Since I was doing so well, I checked out two days early. They fitted me with a neck brace. My last official act there was paying my bill.

Total charges for all of the above: $10,450.

But...but...but...they said it would be $14,800 in their estimate.

Well, I didn't stay the entire five days, only three. But the simple truth was, as Charlie explained to me on my way out the door, they really appreciated my help with correcting their English and doing the promotional video, so they were just returning the favor. They effectively knocked over $2000 off my bill.

Just returning the favor.

Okay. I know I am a novelist. So you are all thinking, "This John Rachel really expects us to buy another one of his wacko fantasies. He's still in satire mode from writing "11-11-11" and "12-12-12". You've seen his promo videos. The guy's nuts!"

True as all that might be, in this rare instance I'm merely reporting the facts. This is what happened and how it happened.

Since my surgery __ that was two years ago __ yes, I can feel "something" in my back. Certainly no pain. But maybe a little tweak. I mean, they spent 2 1/2 hours threading all sorts of exotic robotic instruments down the length of my spine, grinding and chipping away at bone, inserting some sort of supportive splint. You'd expect to feel something.

But I ride my bike every day. I have worked out at four different gyms (three in Vietnam, one in Taiwan), lifting weights and doing heavy cardio-vascular work. I still do a rigorous floor routine to keep from turning into a pile of jelly while I spew out more nonsensical books and annoying political rants.

I'm not going to preach or spoon feed anyone on this. Look at health care in America and draw your own conclusions.

I will add this in closing . . .

People have said to me, "Did you ever consider getting your surgery in the U.S.? America has great doctors and surgeons too."

Right. This would have cost minimum $50,000-60,000 there. Then there's the risk that some underpaid nurse or administrative assistant would make the wrong entry on my chart and I'd end up with my leg amputated or with double-D breast implants.

Consider getting surgery in the U.S.?

Give me a break!


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

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