With the New Year comes a whole host of New Year’s resolutions, New Year’s ideas, New Year’s activities, and other stuff that needs to be done as the old year passes. The reality is that little if anything gets done. Change doesn’t come simply because the clock strikes midnight: It comes because people want it to or they have it forced upon them.
I only had two resolutions this year. One is to read 52 books and the other is to do something nice for somebody I don’t know and will never meet. The first is harder than the second, I think, since I’m already behind….
But now I have a third.
Last Sunday, after the euphoria of the NFL games wore off, I turned on 60 Minutes, the venerable CBS news program. One of the segments was about the Veterans Administration. The story, reported Byron Pitts (see it here), explains the difficulty that many vets have with getting benefits and the care they need as a result of their tour of duty. Does the story sound familiar to any loyal readers? For those who missed it, click here to see my last post of 2009.
What’s wrong with us? How dare we not give these men and women who served so bravely and honorably the care and benefits they need and deserve? I don’t get it. The government – that’s us, the people of the United States — is failing in a most basic responsibility. In 2008 and early 2009, the Treasury, under both the Bush and Obama administrations, bailed out financial companies and carmakers with little regard for the use of tax dollars and yet veterans can’t get needed medical attention because they didn’t fill out a form correctly?
I wonder if anyone in Washington checked the bailout applications to make sure all the i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed before they sent billions of dollars into these companies’ coffers.
We need to do more for our veterans. All of us need to do more. We need to get involved in the process. We need to make sure these men and women are taken care of. It really is the duty of all of us.
So please join me in following through on my third resolution. I’m going to write and call Congress and the White House to demand that they do the right thing by these honorable citizens. It is a resolution we can all join in and the least we can do for those who have done so much for us.
