Author: Betsy L Angert

It was 1989; I was living in “sunny Southern California.”  It had been years...

As I write this, I realize I have only questions and no conclusions.  I am confused, deeply.  Therefore, I turn to you dear reader and ask you to share your thoughts.

I swim daily and have for years.  I do so in a community pool.  The village I live in is quite diverse.  There is a large Asian population. Persians are prevalent.  Hispanics are plentiful.  The black populace is growing and of course, there are Caucasians.  They intermingle, and yet, they are separate.  Their lives are so connected and their stories are not, or are they.

I am a conversational soul; I enjoy engaging with others.  I love learning, and; therefore I ask much.  In asking, often, I discover what I cannot imagine.  Today I was reminded of this.

A woman I swim with, and have for a time, is from Afghanistan born and raised.  Her family still lives there, as do her friends.  She did not leave her homeland; she courageously fled.  Her heart and her mind remain in her country of origin.  Tonight. I ask her of the war and America’s involvement.  She favors it.

In this season of Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and Alpha, America is forced to air its dirty laundry.  There were earlier attempts to clean house; however, America was entrenched in self-righteousness.  In August 2005, three reports discussing racial disparity in health care were released.  Nonetheless, the myth lingered.

People claimed, “The United States is a melting pot.”  It is not.  They said, “People are created and treated equally.”  The truth is they are not.  When we consider what these studies revealed of health care practices, we know this.  Discrimination is prevalent.

When the research was first reported numerous persons ignored the truth and they could easily.  Then the storms came. Facts surfaced.  They were visible on our television screens.  We read of them in our newspapers and heard them on the radio.  A society that thought itself color-blind realized it was not.

Each and every week, the Bush administration offers inconsistencies. This week a contradiction...