Is There Nothing Worth Fighting For?

In my last post I stated some of the things I feel strong enough about , that I am willing to stand up and fight. In response, I have been told on one hand there is nothing people will fight for and then told they will fight for individuals rights. I hope this does not mean, we have become a nation of narcissistic, self absorbed children. We are all part of the human race and when we become so cold and calloused, that the least of us are left to suffer, I am tempted to say the hell with this let me join another group. We have an imperfect government, so instead of fighting to make it better for all of us we want to use it to serve only our own interests. I am sure Danny will respond that I am making his point, but I am not. The items I fight for are not those things that are in my best interest, but for the benefit of the whole. Yes, I support single payer health care, to eliminate the middle man, otherwise know as the insurance companies. What service to they provide? We pay them. They take our money. They strip 30% or more for their costs, which include huge bonuses and salaries for the CEO. Then they decide to pay if we need health care. Danny, says the government is not capable of doing anything right and cannot be trusted to do this correctly and save us money. I say the government is the people and we the people have to be involved in ways to make the government, whether it is administering health care or any other service, do it right and at a fair and competitive cost. What better individual right is there then the right to be happy and secure. Health care and being healthy would promote this. I know, in my opinion, it is a broad interpretation of the Constitution, but I feel that when you look at the preamble, "promote the general Welfare, " and when you look at the "commerce clause" in Article 8, this is justifiable. I am going to write a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt, during a speech he gave in April, 1910. "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds, could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred by dust, and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcomings, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause, who at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory or defeat." I choose to fight for the less fortunate. I choose to fight for the children and the elderly. I choose to fight against the elite and corporate entities that are willing to destroy our nation, for greed. I choose to fight against inequities and racism. I choose to fight for education for all people , so they can climb out of the despair of poverty. I choose to fight whenever the powerful try to take advantage of the weak. If these are the windmills I choose to joust with. So be it, at least I know that when my time comes I can look back across my life and know that in the end I choose to enter that arena to fight, and if I fail I will also know that I strive to achieve something that had greater meaning then myself. This is what I choose. When you  are taking you last breath, will you be grateful for the opportunity you had  to fight or will your last moments be filled with regrets.