Medical Super Power

What are the components to a perfect health care system?  Most people would answer intelligent physicians, the best equipment and great service.  What’s missing?  The secret of our shortcomings is in coverage, quality, and cost.  Not only do we need all of the above but the health care system in the US lacks cost and coverage.  One out of three is not a great track record.  What steps can the US take in the right direction to keep leading the world in medicine but also provide the best service possible to the people back home?  

The United States is one of the most powerful, most innovative, and richest nations the planet has ever known.  However, it is not actually healthy compared to other developed nations.  In a book called The Healing of America, T. R. Reid says, “When it comes to the essential task of providing health care for people, the mighty USA is a fourth rate power.” (Reid) We have some of the best equipment and expertise in the world, so it is paradoxical that the medical care does not reflect our resources.  Why is that? 

 The rest of the world even sees what potential the USA has in medicine.  Our doctors have produced miracle drugs that save the lives of people every day.  American laboratories lead the world in medical research and the US has the best equipped hospitals in the world.  If you walk along an airport terminal or a mall in the US you will probably walk by lots of people who would be dead if it weren’t for the dedication and skill of an American physician.    For example Reid explains that in Singapore a brand new medical complex opened and on a sign right out front it states that the facility is run by Duke University Medical School.  The Singapore government believes that the best medicinal minds are in our own backyard at Duke, which is as far as you can get from Singapore.   

My father always told me to examine myself before looking at someone else’s shortcomings. The US is very generous in the sense that we are always looking at different ways to make other nation’s situation better.   In the same way, we need to fix the broken parts of our health care system’s machinery before spending all our energy and resources on other nations.  The sad fact is that we have squandered our treasure because we've wasted our shining medical assets because of the inefficient healthcare payment system.  The next big question is how we are going to go about changing our health care.  Throw out everything and start from scratch?  The US medical field is going through a lot of changes in 2014 and we will see if it will be for the better. 

 

Reid, T. R. The Healing of America. New York: The Penguin Press, 2009. 28-9.

Lucky 3

It is hard as a college student to balance the precious time with school, studying, school, social life, and trying to fit spending time in God’s word. Going to chapel at APU three times a week helps the students attending to manage priorities and put God first. 

                When you want to have a strong meaningful relationship with people, you have to spend time with them because the relationship goes two ways. Having chapel in the mornings enables us to start our day right.

                Most of the people coming to APU stem from many different denominations. The chapels that we go to help us to see a larger body of Christ at work by having many different speakers share about God. The diverse experiences help us see the world through the perspectives of Christians from all over the world who colored the earth with their walk with God.

                Class times are blocked off for chapel so that students are able to attend to fulfill credit of going to chapel. In a sense, Tim Peck, the director of chapel programs says that chapel is a zero unit class and we should treat it that way. We cannot attend a different church to have the same credit as going to chapel because logistically it would be a nightmare. Also it would be difficult to monitor attendance. The curriculum that the campus pastors and chapel programs want to get across to the students would not be the same. For example, it isn’t the same to take a ballet class for a hip hop class. It is important to Tim Peck and the rest of the chapel program team to create a consistent rhythm of worship and discipline through repetition. God calls us to have fellowship and learn from each other and also be a disciplined follower of Christ. Chapel covers all of this.

                My friend Kaylah walked up to me as I was entering the building for chapel, I had been thinking about homework, sleep, and more homework, but Kaylah and I had a big anatomy exam right after chapel so all the information that I needed to remember was occupying my mind. Then Kaylah excitedly explained to me,” this is exactly what I needed to start my day. I need me some Jesus.” It is all about the attitude that you have coming into the experience. It will make or break you. Just like Kaylah did, we should realize we should realize what a great opportunity we have to be able to go to chapel and strengthen our relationship with God.

                Along with many other things, chapel helps us to take a small vacation from classes and dive into the oasis of God. To worship Him and listen to what He has to say through the speakers.

Beauty

Is beauty really only in the eye of the beholder?  Susan Sontag begins by noting in "A Women's Beauty" the extreme differences between the description of an attractive man and an attractive woman.  Sontag has a point that women are forced to preen and yet are categorized as superficial for doing so. 

                To consider beauty superficial is to misunderstand the Christian view about beauty.  God made a lot of things beautiful even though we tend to think of nature as his masterpiece.  Unfortunately most people have the idea switched because everyone is actually created in GOD’S image.  Can it get any better than that?  There are different aspects of beauty which include inner and outer beauty.  We separate the two ideas instead of seeing that they are both part of a whole.  We cannot simply shrug off beauty like a set of clothes because we are stuck with what God gave us no matter if we like it or not. 

                Sontag describes the women’s relationship to beauty as “enslavement.”  Women are reduced to having one feature being scrutinized, which is their beauty or lack thereof.  Their beauty is controlled in a same way that a slave is reduced to labor.  Women’s enslavement is more thorough than a man’s because men are relatively unhindered in their quest for a lifelong partner.   The media and other worldly cultures define beauty.  So if you do not fit into the perfect equation, then what happens?  Do you eventually find a mate?  Beauty is objective in the sense that everyone is beautiful so we have to be careful in the way that we wield our power.  Christians need to think about beauty more often but also in a different perspective than the dominant culture does.