2015 is a terrible year so far

[Norm_The_Robot]

2015 has been a hard year from my familly. Is god testing us for some reason? From the moment the big stupid ball in stupid New York dropped it’s just been one problem after another. I know things could be worse but they can definitely be a lot better. And the stress it puts on my wife and myself is terrible. I used to be very easy going and full of patience and optimism- and now my wife always asks me what happened to that guy because now I just walk around angry at the whole world, angry at the government, angry at utilities, angry at my kids catholic school, angry about every institution and entity that seems to just see me as a source of revenue, like cattle. Sometimes I just want to scream or hit something. My health insurance went up big time this year. Double. Like a two day pay cut every month to pay for abortions and ****. Theives.

If God is testing our faith or something I wish he would hurry up and get it over with.

 

[Viki63]

I hear you.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’ve talked to a lot of people who feel this way.
You know the US is the only country that makes healthcare a for-profit enterprise? It’s not fair, it should be a human right. And it will get worse before it improves. But I don’t want to turn your thread into a political rant.
Life is a test. C.S.Lewis says that if we think of it as a vacation, we will be disappointed most of the time. But if we think of it as a probationary period, like a rehab center or a prison, it’s not so bad.
It’s not what happens to us that counts, it’s how we react to it.
So it’s hard not to be angry when we feel like a source of revenue. There’s been a lot of talk lately about how the middle class is being squeezed, and it’s true.
The only thing that works for me is to realize that God’s in charge. All I have to do is try to do his will, and take care of the things that are my responsibility, and try not to be too big of a jerk to the people I love. The rest is up to God.
I suggest you try to focus on the positives: the Bible says In everything give thanks. Maybe you could make a short list of what you are thankful for each night, and tell it to your wife. Sounds like you have a wife who loves you – a good start. A lot of people on these boards would give anything to have that,.
God bless.

 

[Sirach614]

I know how you feel, ‘Norm’

On January 19th, I fell 14 feet off a roof, landed on my neck and head on ice, and fractured my skull, got a massive concussion, and blew out my top-most Vertebrae, the C1 vertebra. I had to be Life-Flighted (air-lifted) to a trauma center. And I didn’t have insurance. The hospital bill thus far is in the area of $45,000. And I’m not out of the woods yet. It looks like i can qualify for free care though (or mostly free) because my income is below the “poverty level”. Thankfully I don’t have a wife or kids right now because if i did, they would be suffering too from my not being able to work. There is a silver lining to most problems.

It wasn’t a great way to start off the year, let me tell you. But things could be worse. I could have been paralyzed. Most people who suffer that kind of injury end up in wheelchairs, i was told. I was very fortunate to be saved from that fate. So I’m looking forward to the summer and not being in a neck brace. I can’t return to work for a few more months either. But many generous people at my church, and even people i’ve never met, raised money for me to live on for a while i’m laid up with this injury.

I was mad for a little bit, in the hospital. And I can totally relate to your anger. A lot of things make me angry. It often seems i can never get anywhere in life because problems (vehicle issues, money issues, injury, sickness, family issues) keep cropping up and holding me back. But we cshouldn’t lose heart because, yeah, this life isn’t a vacation and no one ever promised is was going to be easy.

Keep your chin up.

 

[Beryllos]

Are your anxiety and anger mostly about finances? If so, that is good, in a way, because financial difficulties are temporary and solvable. It will take time. Don’t lose hope. Look for small ways to make it better. Don’t let it get in the way of good family times. I am praying for you and your family.

 

[Cat]

I hear you.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’ve talked to a lot of people who feel this way.
You know the US is the only country that makes healthcare a for-profit enterprise? It’s not fair, it should be a human right. And it will get worse before it improves. But I don’t want to turn your thread into a political rant.
Life is a test. C.S.Lewis says that if we think of it as a vacation, we will be disappointed most of the time. But if we think of it as a probationary period, like a rehab center or a prison, it’s not so bad.
It’s not what happens to us that counts, it’s how we react to it.
So it’s hard not to be angry when we feel like a source of revenue. There’s been a lot of talk lately about how the middle class is being squeezed, and it’s true.
The only thing that works for me is to realize that God’s in charge. All I have to do is try to do his will, and take care of the things that are my responsibility, and try not to be too big of a jerk to the people I love. The rest is up to God.
I suggest you try to focus on the positives: the Bible says In everything give thanks. Maybe you could make a short list of what you are thankful for each night, and tell it to your wife. Sounds like you have a wife who loves you – a good start. A lot of people on these boards would give anything to have that,.
God bless.

Health care a human right?

Sooooo…exactly how much health care should be your “right?” A yearly physical? How about knee replacements–after all, you don’t need painless knees to stay alive, do you? And how about all those procedures that are done on people who are over age 70? After all, the Bible says that the time allotted to a human is 60 years plus 10, right? Is it their “right” to receive joint replacements, heart stents, etc.? And how about someone with a debilitating and always-fatal (at this date anyway) condition like ALS–is it their “right” to receive millions of dollars in care? Or how about a baby with neuroblastoma (like my nephew)–should millions be spent on him, knowing that he will suffer from various neuropathies for the rest of his life?

And who should make the decision about what health care procedures are “human rights” and which are “luxuries?” The President? Congress? A committee of…who?!

I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Technology, and many R.N.s have their Master’s Degrees, but we make less than my brother who has a two-year certificate in welding–he makes twice as much money as I make, and he stays in shape without having to go to a gym. Most medical professionals are hardly making a huge “profit.”

As for doctors–yes, they make a good income, and for good reason–they spend the first half of their lives in a very expensive school. But many doctors don’t make nearly as much as we all think they do. Infectious disease specialists make around $150,000/year–again, my brother makes that much in his welding job.

It would be good to do more research on this issue.

 

[Xantippe]

2015 has been a hard year from my familly. Is god testing us for some reason? From the moment the big stupid ball in stupid New York dropped it’s just been one problem after another. I know things could be worse but they can definitely be a lot better. And the stress it puts on my wife and myself is terrible. I used to be very easy going and full of patience and optimism- and now my wife always asks me what happened to that guy because now I just walk around angry at the whole world, angry at the government, angry at utilities, angry at my kids catholic school, angry about every institution and entity that seems to just see me as a source of revenue, like cattle. Sometimes I just want to scream or hit something. My health insurance went up big time this year. Double. Like a two day pay cut every month to pay for abortions and ****. Theives.

If God is testing our faith or something I wish he would hurry up and get it over with.

I’m sorry you’re having such a rough time.

I dislike Obamacare as much as the next person and it is bad in a million different ways, but it isn’t specifically “abortions and ****” that doubled your insurance costs. Like it or not, the medical stuff you don’t like is relatively cheap (at least by the standards of medical care where every procedure under four figures is penny ante).

What doubled your costs is completely different aspects of Obamacare–the stupid and shortsighted ones, not the immoral ones.

 

[Neofight]

Health care a human right?

Sooooo…exactly how much health care should be your “right?” A yearly physical? How about knee replacements–after all, you don’t need painless knees to stay alive, do you? And how about all those procedures that are done on people who are over age 70? After all, the Bible says that the time allotted to a human is 60 years plus 10, right? Is it their “right” to receive joint replacements, heart stents, etc.? And how about someone with a debilitating and always-fatal (at this date anyway) condition like ALS–is it their “right” to receive millions of dollars in care? Or how about a baby with neuroblastoma (like my nephew)–should millions be spent on him, knowing that he will suffer from various neuropathies for the rest of his life?

And who should make the decision about what health care procedures are “human rights” and which are “luxuries?” The President? Congress? A committee of…who?!

I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Technology, and many R.N.s have their Master’s Degrees, but we make less than my brother who has a two-year certificate in welding–he makes twice as much money as I make, and he stays in shape without having to go to a gym. Most medical professionals are hardly making a huge “profit.”

As for doctors–yes, they make a good income, and for good reason–they spend the first half of their lives in a very expensive school. But many doctors don’t make nearly as much as we all think they do. Infectious disease specialists make around $150,000/year–again, my brother makes that much in his welding job.

It would be good to do more research on this issue.

Wow, not sure how this spun from the OPs lamentations (which I offer prayers for), and an apparent lack of humility to ensure no encroachment on your earthly possessions. But I will pray that the miseries of others do not threaten your financial status quo.

 

[Xantippe]

Are your anxiety and anger mostly about finances? If so, that is good, in a way, because financial difficulties are temporary and solvable. It will take time. Don’t lose hope. Look for small ways to make it better. Don’t let it get in the way of good family times. I am praying for you and your family.

Yes.

If school is asking a lot financially on top of tuition, it may be time to send an email or two. Don’t send an angry email right away. Write something and then let it sit for a day or two, revise it with your wife, revise it some more (leaning in the direction of removing inflammatory or critical language), and then send it. I’m sure you’re not the only family at school in the situation you describe, so you could be of real service to others that are in the same position by speaking up:

A few years back, after getting fed up by the steady stream of $3 for this, $5 for that, $20 for this other thing messages from school (it felt like we were being asked to contribute to a party ALL THE TIME), I wrote our administration and pointed out to them that this was very hard on the lower income members of our school community and it was in danger of turning it into a rich kid school. I sent them a link to one or both of the following blog pieces, which are about the burdens of being poorer than your peers in the conservative Protestant church community:

thecommonroomblog.com/2011/02/accidental-burdens.html

thecommonroomblog.com/2011/02/accidental-burdens-2.html

I’m not sure it has gotten better at our school, but I spoke up and I feel better about it.

 

[Xantippe]

Wow, not sure how this spun from the OPs lamentations (which I offer prayers for), and an apparent lack of humility to ensure no encroachment on your earthly possessions. But I will pray that the miseries of others do not threaten your financial status quo.

Cat has a reasonable point that “healthcare is a human right” has obvious practical limitations.

I’ve read about a rural Indian hospital where they didn’t have the equipment to mechanically ventilate a patient, so that to keep a patient alive, they had to draft a relative to manually ventilate the patient. So, the question arises, how long is one as a loving relative obligated to sit there and manually ventilate a patient that can’t breathe for themselves? Until one or the other of you dies a natural death?

 

[benotagoat]

I know how you feel, ‘Norm’

On January 19th, I fell 14 feet off a roof, landed on my neck and head on ice, and fractured my skull, got a massive concussion, and blew out my top-most Vertebrae, the C1 vertebra. I had to be Life-Flighted (air-lifted) to a trauma center. And I didn’t have insurance. The hospital bill thus far is in the area of $45,000. And I’m not out of the woods yet. It looks like i can qualify for free care though (or mostly free) because my income is below the “poverty level”. Thankfully I don’t have a wife or kids right now because if i did, they would be suffering too from my not being able to work. There is a silver lining to most problems.

It wasn’t a great way to start off the year, let me tell you. But things could be worse. I could have been paralyzed. Most people who suffer that kind of injury end up in wheelchairs, i was told. I was very fortunate to be saved from that fate. So I’m looking forward to the summer and not being in a neck brace. I can’t return to work for a few more months either. But many generous people at my church, and even people i’ve never met, raised money for me to live on for a while i’m laid up with this injury.

I was mad for a little bit, in the hospital. And I can totally relate to your anger. A lot of things make me angry. It often seems i can never get anywhere in life because problems (vehicle issues, money issues, injury, sickness, family issues) keep cropping up and holding me back. But we cshouldn’t lose heart because, yeah, this life isn’t a vacation and no one ever promised is was going to be easy.

Keep your chin up.

Ilness is often God’s way of reminding us to look Inside ourselves more, change our priorities ,and a warning that we were going in the wrong direction .I pray that your health will continue to improve, and that you will see better, what God wants from you .

 

[wild_thing]

I have always found St. Jude to be a ridiculously helpful advocate in any crisis I have found myself in, particularly financial ones. Maybe for this upcoming Lent you could devote yourself more to prayer and tell God all of your hardships, including your anger at Him. It will give you some relief and God loves it when we talk with Him, even when it’s just ranting. Then you can start listening for His voice and His will for your family.

 

[Neofight]

Cat has a reasonable point that “healthcare is a human right” has obvious practical limitations.

I’ve read about a rural Indian hospital where they didn’t have the equipment to mechanically ventilate a patient, so that to keep a patient alive, they had to draft a relative to manually ventilate the patient. So, the question arises, how long is one as a loving relative obligated to sit there and manually ventilate a patient that can’t breathe for themselves? Until one or the other of you dies a natural death?

I agree, the premise healthcare not being a human right is not without merit…however, the heavy concern with her “rights” for what she views adequate compensation was what I found troubling.

 

[benotagoat]

I hear you.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’ve talked to a lot of people who feel this way.
You know the US is the only country that makes healthcare a for-profit enterprise? It’s not fair, it should be a human right. And it will get worse before it improves. But I don’t want to turn your thread into a political rant.
Life is a test. C.S.Lewis says that if we think of it as a vacation, we will be disappointed most of the time. But if we think of it as a probationary period, like a rehab center or a prison, it’s not so bad.
It’s not what happens to us that counts, it’s how we react to it.
So it’s hard not to be angry when we feel like a source of revenue. There’s been a lot of talk lately about how the middle class is being squeezed, and it’s true.
The only thing that works for me is to realize that God’s in charge. All I have to do is try to do his will, and take care of the things that are my responsibility, and try not to be too big of a jerk to the people I love. The rest is up to God.
I suggest you try to focus on the positives: the Bible says In everything give thanks. Maybe you could make a short list of what you are thankful for each night, and tell it to your wife. Sounds like you have a wife who loves you – a good start. A lot of people on these boards would give anything to have that,.
God bless.

This idea of 'human right needs I would say to be discussed a lot in the States .
Philosophically one only has the right to be free of violence ,and free to make an honest living . All other 'rights 'depend on other people , and it is their ‘right’ to not pay for you .

However ,if you wish to have a basically decent society ,all illness which befalls young people ,I would say should be covered until say the age of 30, and then one should have to pay an insurance .
Where I live in Europe there is not completely ‘free’ health care as many think .One has to pay a minimum insurance each year and if you wish the full gamut then you pay a mensuel .
In GB it has been completely ‘free’ ,but now that has run it’s course, as money is no longer available because of the abuses of the system by people .

 

[Xantippe]

I agree, the premise healthcare not being a human right is not without merit…however, the heavy concern with her “rights” for what she views adequate compensation was what I found troubling.

Just as sick people have a right to expect care, workers have a right to expect reasonable pay. Cat (as a healthcare worker) was presumably bristling at the idea that her skill and labor is a gimme and that she is obligated to work for way less than she currently does because health care is a right.

Related: I believe it was Flannery O’Connor who had a funny story about a Protestant woman who would steal Bibles because the Word of God ought to be free!

It can be simultaneously true that something should be available to everybody, while at the same time, people who do work ought to be paid for it.

 

[benotagoat]

I have always found St. Jude to be a ridiculously helpful advocate in any crisis I have found myself in, particularly financial ones. Maybe for this upcoming Lent you could devote yourself more to prayer and tell God all of your we talk with Him, even when it’s just ranting. Then you can start listening for His voice and His will for your family.

I agree that God prefers that we rant at Him than ignore or deny Him, as He never fails to
support when we do ,but I usually apologise afterwards .

 

[Neofight]

It can be simultaneously true that something should be available to everybody, while at the same time, people who do work ought to be paid for it.

And on this, we seem to agree…however, those who feel they are underpaid, usually make for undedicated employees…I can’t think of a single one of my colleagues who I retired from the Navy with who stayed with the company for 20 years because the pay was so good!..and I think of the services to God and neighbor provided by Franciscans (and other Religious) and don’t receive a salary, but because of humility, they don’t sit around contemplating who much monetary value they should be entitled to.

 

[UbiCaritas]

And on this, we seem to agree…however, those who feel they are underpaid, usually make for undedicated employees…I can’t think of a single one of my colleagues who I retired from the Navy with who stayed with the company for 20 years because the pay was so good!..and I think of the services to God and neighbor provided by Franciscans (and other Religious) and don’t receive a salary, but because of humility, they don’t sit around contemplating who much monetary value they should be entitled to.

Sure, but a brother or sister in an order also doesn’t have to worry about a mortgage payment, paying for health insurance, gas, groceries, utilities, putting kids through college, a car payment, clothing, retirement, or anything else of the sort. Expecting a layperson, especially one with a family depending on them, to work for free or for an insufficient amount to pay for those things is grossly unfair.

Now, if we could revive a lot of the nursing and teaching orders I quite agree that the world would be a much better place:

–many Catholic families wouldn’t be forced to homeschool and could put their kids in a solidly Catholic school with all the advantages that that offers;
–healthcare would be cheaper, if only because staffing costs would be so much less;
–the poor and indigent would receive much better help and care than they do now;

and really, the list is much longer than that, but that’s a rant for another thread. In any case, I don’t see a revival happening anytime soon, so this is nothing but a digression.

The point is that just as Catholic schools are in a catch-22 of wanting to help their students but being required (and rightly so) to offer their staff a living wage (and that money has to come from SOMEWHERE), hospitals also have to be able to pay their people a reasonable amount. Few people will argue that the average healthcare CEO is overpaid, but they aren’t the biggest line item in a hospital’s budget: it’s all the people making $40-$50K/year doing things like nursing, labwork, and so on. It isn’t unreasonable for someone who’s spent a lot of time learning to do a job so as to support their family to expect to be able to support a family.

 

[Xantippe]

And on this, we seem to agree…however, those who feel they are underpaid, usually make for undedicated employees…I can’t think of a single one of my colleagues who I retired from the Navy with who stayed with the company for 20 years because the pay was so good!..

But if your salary had been cut by 1/3 or 1/2, you would (very properly) feel miffed and perhaps unappreciated. And it wouldn’t surprise me if you or your colleagues wound up quitting over a 33% pay cut. And I wouldn’t blame you at all.

Our US nurses and physicians’ assistants enjoy a standard of living very similar to that of doctors in some other prosperous developed countries. Check out the doctor salaries listed on the chart here for Belgium, Sweden and Finland–US physicians’ assistants make way, way more than that.

economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/how-much-do-doctors-in-other-countries-make/

 

[benotagoat]

And on this, we seem to agree…however, those who feel they are underpaid, usually make for undedicated employees…I can’t think of a single one of my colleagues who I retired from the Navy with who stayed with the company for 20 years because the pay was so good!..and I think of the services to God and neighbor provided by Franciscans (and other Religious) and don’t receive a salary, but because of humility, they don’t sit around contemplating who much monetary value they should be entitled to.

Comparing religious orders to people who have to live and struggle in the world is wrong .

You may think it is hard ,but for most who live apart from the world ,if they chose it ,it is easy in comparison.

 

[RC1960]

Back to the original post . . . Dude. your wife is giving you a BIG signal- did you “get married” or enter into the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony? If you solve all the other "problems and lose her, what’s the point. your a team, play it as such and tone down the stand-alone-complex.

That said, all you are sensing is correct and it’s the atheistic popular cultural collectivist agenda that is shaping it: hyper-individualism is the latest form of divide and conquer That’s fancy talk for Christians are under siege. God isn’t the originator either.

Congress has an 86% disapproval rating, so your not alone. The current socialist administration has more than doubled the national debt in 6 years and that’s the pinch you are feeling. . but if you sign this it’ll be all better-sure it will.

Get the propaganda out of your home and turn off the TB-if advertising is supposed to be paying for it, why are you? If it’s really important, the news will get to you by grapevine. you just saved $135/month. Turn on Catholic radio and/or subscribe to a Catholic podcast Try the Break with Fr. Roderick and The Catholics Next Door.

Get off Ovama-care and join a medical sharing program. There is finally a Catholic version out there. Little Netherlands has socialized medicine that accommodates religious beliefs. So just why is this administration holding back on this?

If the economy is getting better,why is the price of everything else but gasoline going up? Has OPEC gone “friendly”? Or people counting down the time remaing 'til election time?

Put aside the world and grab and build on those lovely intangibles. your problems will still be there. Luckily,many others are feeling it too, and that means you can work out an honest deal somewhere.