I don’t think anyone (sane) would argue that what happened in AZ, when that gunman came into the grocery store & opened fire, was such a horrible tragedy.

I was just as upset about it as most ppl about it. Then, we heard the stories. The story of Dorwin Stoddard, 76, who covered his wife, protecting her from the gunshots. He did not make it though. And 9 yr old Christina Green, who was born on 9/11/01. She just became interested in the Student Government at her school & a neighbor thought it would be nice for her to meet their local government representative. There were others, but those 2 touched me. It doesn’t make the others less important.

What I really wanted to write about though, was this story that came out later about the 9 yr old boy who sold toys at his school to raise money to help with Congresswoman Giffords health expenses.

This story actually upset me. Now, before I get into it, I’m going to re-iterate that I’m not a parent, so I know that limits the value of my opinion in the minds of some parents. I’m ok w/ that.

If I had a child, & that child told me that they wanted to raise money to help cover health care costs for a Congresswoman; I would realize 2 things: that they were interested in politics & health care. I would sit the child down, & explain how our health-care system works. I would tell him that our politicians actually do a civil service. They are working to help Americans, and so they get a number of benefits. Transportation, mail service, health care. That he can just wish the best for the Congresswoman, & he’s absolutely right in his feelings of concern. However, perhaps we could re-allocate that money to maybe some of the others that were affected that may not have the coverage to get better?

Don’t tell me it can’t be done, because I know all my nephews had some sort of understanding of health care at the age of 7.

The reason this came up today is that I just read this article on msnbc. It profiles a young man Steven Jones, now 18, who was shot by a neighbor boy playing w/ a handgun in 2006. He’s blind & deaf in his right eye & ear, limited function of his left arm/hand, & difficulty walking. His therapy, like for many others is limited & inconsistent, not necessarily by specialized practitioners.

The stats from this article are:
-> 1.7 million ppl suffer traumatic brain injuries yearly
-> of these, 275,000 are hospitalized
—–> of those 275,000, 2/3’s are sent home w/ no further care.

I think it’s the responsibility of the parent to make sure the child understands how things work. When the teacher calls home & tells the mom what he’s doing, she needs to sit down & talk to him. And the new sources need to not cover this type of stuff. Stuff that just doesn’t make sense. B/c they’re encourage non-sensical actions.