Can You Live? The summers of New York You feel the fresh tar Boiling Melting Your feet are scorched You lived, I lived The harsh cold winter What's red and white all over? Your face stinging from the stabs of ice and snow Slush at your feet Cold and wet The consequences of the cold You lived, I lived I survived a disease Manifesting into our lives Becoming the new normal It starts to become hard to breath Pieces of cloth cover our mouths Painting over our personalities I lived Many didn’t I lived through walks in Mexico Walks at 2am in the Bronx Track meets “Extra time” Slide tackles Shots (soccer balls) to my stomach Bloody noses Broken arms People have lived through war Shots to the chest Death People can live with no eyesight, no hearing, they love to live They survive fights They can move on They can live I can live You can live too
Monthly Archives: March 2023
Battle Under the Setting Sun
Battle Under the Setting Sun
My cousin and I stand across from each other,
eyes locked, anticipating.
Light, glistens off
the shiny metal of our armies.
The darkness begins to take over,
But the battle carries on.
A foot soldier attempts
a solo assault.
Only to be met with the full force
of my army’s elite.
Trades, traps, tricks, and exchanges
signal the end of the dance approaching.
My opponent attempts a final charge,
as the final light fades from the sky.
But as he assaults my left flank,
he makes his final mistake.
He has fallen right into my trap.
My eyes narrow with greed, as I prepare to finish the duel.
And excitement fills me as I bring an end to our contest.
Checkmate.
—Beau Heese, grade 8, Missouri.
The Alchemy of Love
The Alchemy of Love
By Satish Kumar, Editor Emeritus, Resurgence
Satish Kumar, Editor Emeritus, Resurgence. Photo by: Daniel Elkan
“I have decided to stick to love; hatred is too great a burden to bear.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Love is all very well, but can we love Vladimir Putin?
I am often asked this question, and I always give the same response, which is to say we must love Putin in order to transform him and save millions of innocent lives. Only love, I tell people, has the power to transform Putin.
The Sufi poet Rumi wrote:
By love the bitter becomes sweet,
By love copper becomes gold,
By love pain becomes healing.
And to this, I would add:
By love enemies become friends.
This, then, is the true potential in the alchemy of love and in adopting love as a verb.
Wars and weapons can kill, but they cannot transform. And, of course, before one can kill some ‘undesirable’ person, one might kill thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of innocent people. In wars, millions are made homeless and become refugees. Schools, hospitals and homes are destroyed. Roads, railways and historic buildings are decimated. The price of food and fuel goes up. And it is those living in poverty who will suffer the most. In modern military operations, it is impossible to avoid civilian casualties.
Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were killed, but before they died how many ordinary men, women and children lost their homes or their lives? How many soldiers on both sides were killed, wounded or forever traumatised? And after all the deaths and destruction, what was achieved? Nothing! Afghanistan is still ruled by the Taliban, and Iraq is still in chaos. If the greatest military power in the world, the United States, could not win a war after 20 years of fighting in Afghanistan, what hope is there for either side to win the current war in Ukraine?
If there is a lesson to be learned from the experience of recent wars such as those in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, then the lesson is simple and clear: wars are not only futile, but they are also obsolete; they neither transform tyrants nor accomplish peace.
Nations have waged wars and practised hatred for hundreds of years and have failed miserably in their stated goals. The UK tried to conquer Afghanistan but failed, Russia tried to rule Afghanistan but failed, America tried to establish a friendly government in Afghanistan by military means but it too failed.
So now let them all try love.
It is easy to love someone who is reasonable and agreeable, who is good and gracious. But to love someone who behaves in a narrow-minded, arrogant and selfish way requires real courage and strength. Making peace with Putin would be a sign of strength, not of weakness.
We need to understand that those who behave badly do so because they have not themselves been loved. The poet W.H. Auden wrote, “Those to whom evil is done do evil in return.”
The path of love is taken by the brave and not by the faint-hearted. The real test of love is to love your enemy. Love conquers all. Amor vincit omnia.
War prolongs conflict, but love resolves conflict. Love is as logical as it is magical. Love makes miracles.
History is full of violent systems: slavery, apartheid, sexism, Nazism, colonialism, casteism and many more unpleasant ‘isms’. Some people think that communism is evil. Others think that capitalism is evil. And if we always take the path of confrontation and opposition in order to overcome these undesirable systems and to defeat our opponents by war, we are simply pouring fuel on the fire and then hoping to extinguish it.
Wise leaders have often proclaimed that the ends cannot justify the means. Noble ends must be pursued and accomplished by noble means – which include love and nonviolent resistance. There is no way to peace: peace is the way.
Mahatma Gandhi is believed to have said, “There are many causes I would die for. There is not a single cause I would kill for.”
We have witnessed the success of nonviolent resistance. Gandhi and the Indian struggle for independence, Martin Luther King and the peaceful campaign against racism in America, Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. These are some utterly inspiring examples of nonviolent action founded on love. These movements brought about a change of heart leading to a change of regime. These movements were founded on the humility of hearts, on generosity of spirit and on an unconditional love for humanity.
Love is letting go of ego and arrogance. To love is to accept the multiplicity of systems and the diversity of truths. Love is to live and let live. Love and selfishness do not go together. Love celebrates unity, ego imposes uniformity. Love embraces diversity; ego causes division. Love lets a thousand flowers bloom; ego wants a monoculture. Ego is driven by self-interest, love looks for common interest. Ego seeks separation, love likes relationship. Ego engages in self-seeking, love seeks mutuality and reciprocity. Ego leads to war, love leads to peace. Ego creates contradiction, love creates conciliation.
If we want peace, prosperity and happiness, then love should be a way of life for all of us. It is through love that we find meaning in our lives. The art of love needs to be learned and practised every day. As we nourish our bodies with food every day, so we can nourish our souls with love every day. Love is food for the soul. Love is the essence of life: love of ourselves, love of each other, love of people and love of Nature. No one, not even Putin, is our enemy. I would say the same thing to Putin: Ukrainians are not your enemies, Europeans and Americans are not your enemies. Only through friendship can the whole of humanity protect its common interests.
Wars cause climate catastrophe. The production of weapons, the constant flying of military planes and the use of other military vehicles, including tanks, require huge amounts of fossil fuel. After the war is over, further fossil fuels are needed to rebuild destroyed buildings and damaged infrastructure. In war people suffer and Nature suffers. In war no one wins and everyone loses.
War leaders sit comfortably in the Kremlin or in the White House. Soldiers suffer. Society suffers. War is pointless. War is unnecessary. War is uncivilised. War is hell. War is out of date. There is no other act as bitter, as traumatic and as stupid as war. War is immoral and irrational, whoever initiates it.
Ukrainians blame Putin, Putin blames Ukrainians. But love takes us beyond this blame game. It takes two to fight a war and it takes two to make peace. But politicians of all persuasions seem to have lost the art of making peace. They seem to have forgotten the statesmanship, the statecraft and the craft of true diplomacy that are always rooted in deep love.
Nations know how to conquer the moon. They know how to destroy our precious planet Earth with nuclear weapons, not once but a hundred times over. But the presidents and prime ministers of Europe, the US and Ukraine don’t seem to know how to talk with Putin and help him see the futility of war and inspire him to seek peace! Nor does Putin seem to know how to befriend his neighbours like the Ukrainians and make them feel safe. What is the point of all this progress, what is the benefit of all this education and all the scientific achievements if the graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, Moscow and Beijing don’t know how to establish harmony among nations and peace among people?
Politics without wisdom is a very dangerous thing, and sadly, politicians do not know how to be true statesmen, ambassadors do not know how to be true diplomats, and religious leaders do not know how to practise love as a verb. Governments of all colours spend billions and trillions of dollars, roubles and euros in preparation for war while many of their citizens are homeless, jobless and hungry, living on food provided by food banks.
I am a pacifist and a peacemaker. I do not excuse Putin for attacking Ukraine. But I want Ukraine and the supporters of Ukraine, as well as the Russians and their supporters, to rise above their narrow national interests and seek the common interest of the whole of humanity.
Love safeguards the interests of everyone.
The consequences of wars are so tragic that we need to avoid them in all circumstances. Like the medical profession, politicians need to take an oath to do no harm. No harm to self, no harm to other human beings and no harm to Nature. If such an oath were to become an integral part of international law, Putin could not attack Ukraine. The USA could not attack Iraq.
Hugely militarised nations live in constant fear and insecurity, forgetting that true security resides in trust, not tanks. Only the power of love can free them from fear of the other.
When wars become unpopular, leaders are compelled to negotiate and compromise. Neither side gets their way. Both sides are forced to find a mutually acceptable solution. Why could they not do this in the first place? Why not find a negotiated agreement instead of all the deaths and destruction? Peace is common sense, but conflicts and common sense don’t go together. Unfortunately, common sense is no longer so common!
If we harbour hatred for Putin in our hearts, we are victims of our own hatred. Therefore let us choose love in place of hatred. Hatred is not good for us. Our true self-interest and our true security are both embedded in love, not in hatred. This is tough love. I call it Radical Love. I know I am being an idealist, but the way of the pragmatists is causing chaos. So why not give idealism a chance?
So yes, we need to love Putin, and we can love Putin. If we loved Putin, he would have no excuse to go to war. Love is unconditional, unlimited and abundant. Love is for all. Let us bring a monsoon of love to Moscow and soften the dry soul of Putin.
My message to Putin is the same: Stop war and try love.
And my message to Europeans and Americans is the same: Stop adding fuel to fire.
It is time to bring the rain of love, forgiveness and peace to the fire of war in Ukraine—a war that should never have been started.
—Satish Kumar is the recipient of the Goi Peace Award 2022. His new book, Radical Love, is published by Parallax Press and is available now from www.resurgence.org/shop
This article was first published in Resurgence & Ecologist Issue 337, March/April 2023. Used with permission. All rights to this article are reserved to The Resurgence Trust. To buy a copy of the Resurgence magazine, read further articles or find out about the Trust, visit www.resurgence.org
Goldilocks Zone and the Three Planets
Goldilocks Zone and the Three Planets
Have you ever heard of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? In the story, Goldilocks sneaks into a bear family’s house and comes across three bowls of porridge. She finds that the first one is too hot, the second one too cold, and the third one is just right. Interestingly, there is also a principle called the “Goldilocks zone” in astrobiology. The Goldilocks zone (or habitable zone) is a space shaped like a doughnut around a star, where the temperature is “just right” for water to remain liquid, signaling the potential for life. In our solar system, the Goldilocks zone is a doughnut-shaped area between Venus and Mars’s orbit, with our earth in the middle. The only habitable planet orbiting the Sun is Earth, but there could be thousands of other exoplanets in the universe that have the conditions for liquid water. We can’t be sure yet, but some might even have life.
One example of an exoplanet that suits the Goldilocks principle is Proxima Centauri B. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star that is the closest star to our sun by a distance of 4.2 light-years. Although Proxima Centauri B lies in the habitable zone and could have an atmosphere and liquid water, there are obstacles that make it harder for people to settle there. For one, Proxima Centauri B suffers from overwhelming stellar wind pressures from its star. Also, as the planet might be tidally locked to its star, meaning that the same side faces the star at all times, one side might be boiling and the other extremely cold. As of now, we are unsure of whether the planet is rocky, icy, or gaseous. However, because the planet is very close to Earth, it might be the first exoplanet for humans to visit, so we should keep it in mind.
Another example of an exoplanet in the Goldilocks zone is Trappist-1e. Located about 40 light-years from Earth, its star Trappist-1 is a red dwarf star that weighs 0.09 times the Sun’s mass. All of Trappist-1’s seven planets have rocky surfaces like Earth and almost all have water in vapor, liquid, or solid form, which make humans look for opportunities to settle there. Out of these seven planets, Trappist-1e has the best chance of being habitable. Trappist-1e has an ocean and land, and if it has an atmosphere similar to that of Earth, people might be able to live there without gas masks or space suits. One interesting fact is that because Trappist-1 and its planets were formed 3 billion years earlier than our solar system, they might even support life that is more evolved than humans!
The last planet we’ll talk about was recently discovered in January 2020. Orbiting around the star TOI 700, TOI 700 d is the first earth-sized exoplanet discovered in the Goldilocks zone. TOI 700’s other two planets are so close to the star that all their water will boil away, while TOI 700 d luckily sits in the habitable zone with liquid water. Out of all the exoplanets in their star’s habitable zones, there aren’t many with the same size as Earth, which makes TOI 700 d one of the best options for settling. However, the distance of 101 light-years hinders us from visiting in the near future.
All three of these exoplanets have a possibility for harboring life. Even though the possibility that any of them are habitable for humans is very slim, we will continue our discovery of exoplanets. Only about 30 years have passed since we first discovered planets outside our solar system. This is only a start, and we can hope that astronomers will find a new exoplanet with the same conditions as Earth. Who knows? Maybe someday in the far future we will settle on a Goldilocks planet outside our solar system.
By Evan Jee, age 12, grade 6, South Korea. Evan writes: “I am interested in this topic of studying space and planets in school classes. And I usually read science novels or watch movies to understand the detailed aspects. As an international school student, I sometimes have time to discuss with foreign friends as well.”
References and Recommended Resources:
- NASA May Have Found the Goldilocks Planet of Goldilocks Planets: TOI 700d https://time.com/5763768/toi-700-d-goldilocks-planet/
- Earth, our Goldilocks Planet; Datasets from ‘Science on a Sphere’ https://sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/earth-our-goldilocks-planet/
- Goldilocks Meets Desidero by Carl Spetzler, 2011
Cinderella, a Poem
Cinderella
Once upon a time a girl in rags,
Walked to the market carrying bags.
Cinderella worked by her evil stepmother,
And her greedy, priding stepsisters.
One time all the ladies were invited,
To the royal ball so they were excited.
Cinderella’s family was elated,
So they dressed in shimmering gowns blue and red.
They left for the ball on a nice horse ride,
Cinderella remained at home and cried,
“Oh Lord, why can’t I go to the ball?
Like the other ladies and all?”
Suddenly a flash of light came and when it disappeared,
A woman in a royal gown appeared.
With a wand in her hand she told,
“I am your fairy godmother who’s very old,
Now, you can go to the ball, my dear
But you must have something better to wear!”
With a swish of her wand and a note of her song,
Cinderella’s rags turned into a gown before long!
Finished with glass slippers and a tiara on her head,
Her fairy godmother now said,
“Now fetch me a pumpkin, my dear!
And watch closely here!”
Six mice turned into horses and the pumpkin into a carriage,
A rat into the driver, all set for the prince’s marriage!
Cinderella got into the carriage with a new light,
Her fairy godmother said, “You must return when the clock strikes midnight.”
At the ball, on Cinderella Prince Charming’s eyes fell,
Such beauty with words he couldn’t tell,
They danced all night long,
To the royal orchestra’s sweet song!
Suddenly, the clock struck midnight, the start of a new day,
Cinderella turned and ran away!
The gown turned back to the rags she wore,
All worn and torn just like before.
One of her glass slippers she left behind
For Prince Charming, which he did find.
And he exclaimed, “Soldiers, find the owner of this slipper!
And I shall of course marry her.”
The soldiers searched the whole town
For the lady whom they were going to crown.
And when they reached Cinderella’s home,
Where the glass slipper was seen.
It didn’t fit either stepsisters’ feet,
But for Cinderella’s feet it fitted very neat.
Escorted to the royal palace later,
Cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after!
By Tanvi Arunkumar, Grade 4, Tamilnadu, India. She adds:
“At home, I speak Tamil and English. My family and school are the things that are really important to me. And my all time favourite hobby is swimming (Outdoors) and writingpoems. My long-term vision is to become an astronaut and discover more interesting
solar systems.”
Andy’s Birthday Surprise
Andy’s Birthday Surprise
By Astaire R. Greenberg, retired librarian, New York.
Andy loved to read. Even when he was a baby, his mother would hold him on her lap and show him picture books. The best part was when his mom or dad tucked him into bed and read to him.
Wherever he went he always took along a book. When he went to his big brother’s baseball game, everyone watched the players. Not Andy! He sat on the benches and looked at his books. Even at barbecues, he would eat his hot dog so quickly, and gulp down his drink, so he could look at his books again.
At the beach, Andy would go into the water for a few minutes, but then, he would hurry back to his blanket to continue reading. It was such an exciting time for Andy because now he was starting to sound out the words by himself!
Everywhere that Andy went, he carried a blue and white backpack. All of his friends put water, a snack, or games in their backpacks. Not Andy! He put in books—lots and lots of books. There were so many books, and his backpack was so heavy, that sometimes he couldn’t even stand up straight! His dad figured out a way to help Andy. Together, they built a little cart. They worked very hard on this and had lots of fun doing this together. It was the perfect size to carry all of his books. They painted the cart blue, and in big white letters, they wrote,“ANDY’S AMAZING BOOKS.” His friends helped him decorate the cart with bright and colorful designs. They all thought it was so cool, which made Andy feel soproud. He and his dad did a great job with the cart.
Mrs. Rivera, his teacher, allowed Andy to leave his cart in the back of the classroom. When the children finished their work, they were allowed to go to see what books were in the cart for that day. There were usually books about space, soccer, animals, children from around the world, and many more. Every storybook interested Andy. He wanted to learn about EVERYTHING!
Saturday was Andy’s favorite day of the week. That was the day that he went to the public library with his parents. His mom asked Alex to empty the cart, so there would be room for all the new books. He couldn’t wait to visit the library to see Mrs. Hamilton, the librarian. She was so friendly and helpful. She always showed him the new books in the children’s section. After filling the cart, he asks his mom, “Can I get a library card today?” To which she replies, “Not yet!” After visiting the library, Andy and his family had pizza for lunch. It was hard for Andy to eat his pizza and look at a book, but that never stopped him from trying. Every morning when Andy woke up, he would ask, “Is today Saturday?” So, his mom and Andy decided to put up a calendar on the wall. Together, they put a red circle around all of the Saturdays in the month. This way, Andy could check the calendar every morning.
Andy asked, “On which Saturday am I going to get my very own library card?” His mother explained that he had to wait until he was five years old. She said, “Andy, we only have four more Saturdays to go.” Andy couldn’t wait to get his own library card! Soon, he would have it, and his name would be in big letters on the top. There were so many books in the children’s section. How was he ever going to finish reading all of them?
Andy’s birthday was almost here. He invited his best friend, Terrell, to his party because they had so much fun together. His mother also sent out invitations to his other friends: Luis, Maria, Jada, Jordan, Shaquille, and Matt.
COME TO ANDY’S 5TH BIRTHDAY PARTY PLACE: Andy’s House DATE: Saturday, March 5 TIME: 1:00 P.M. ANDY’S PARENTS HAVE A VERY SPECIAL SURPRISE GUEST COMING
When Andy woke up on that Saturday morning, he was all excited to have his birthday party. He was now five years old. He helped his mom and dad decorate the family room with colorful streamers, plenty of balloons, and pictures of Andy’s favorite books. When it was almost time for the party, all of his friends came. They played games, had snacks, and ate birthday cake. Imagine, a cake with five candles!
Suddenly mother stood up, clapped her hands, and got all the children to be very quiet. She said, “As you all know, Andy LOVES books. We wanted to do something very special for him, so we invited a surprise guest.”
A woman came through the door, and it was Mrs. Hamilton, the town librarian. Andy was so excited.
Mrs. Hamilton smiled at the children and said, “Boys and Girls, I am so thrilled to be here. I know how much Andy loves books and reading books teach you so much. They are friends to you. Andy hopes that all of you will start coming to the library with him every Saturday. Think of all the fun we will have together.”
She then gave Andy and each of his friends a white envelope that had each one’s name on the front. She said, “Andy, why don’t you open yours first.” Andy jumped up and clapped his hands. He was so excited. He opened the envelope and there was a Library Card! His name was on top in great big Letters. ANDY!
Then all the children ripped their enveloped open and what a surprise: each one had received their very own library card with their names printed on it.
Oh, how happy Andy was! He said, “This is the best birthday gift I have ever had! It’s great to be five! Now I have my very own library card. And the greatest thing is—all my best friends got library cards too. We can all go to the library together every Saturday.”
Mrs. Hamilton said, “And I can read all the wonderful books to all of you, and then you can check out books to bring them home.”
All the children stood up, made a circle around Mrs. Hamilton and Andy, and they all danced around them and shouted, “Hooray for Books! Hooray for Andy.”
—Astaire R. Greenberg, retired librarian, New York. Illustration by Katherine Han, h.s. senior, Texas.
A Scallion Pancake Recipe Inspired by French and Asian Cuisines
A Scallion Pancake Recipe Inspired by French and Asian Cuisines
By Owen Lu, age 16, California
Introduction:
This pancake recipe is surprisingly simple and versatile, allowing for many variations by adjusting the portion size or adding other ingredients of your choice. The batter in the recipe resembles that of crepes, the traditional French pancakes. Chinese cuisine also contains many similar versions of this recipe, like Jian Bing(煎饼)and scallion pancakes. The dish I present here combines elements from these two cuisines.
The original pancake recipe (without additional ingredients) was passed on from my grandmother. The recipe stemmed from the hope to create an easier version of scallion pancakes; scallion pancakes are much more complicated to make as you have to carefully layer the dough to create a crisp exterior but maintain a soft interior. This pancake recipe produces a dish with similar ingredients but in a much simpler way.
I fused my dish with Chinese Jian Bing, which often contains crisps inside that provide a texture contrast. After some research, I found that the crisps can be easily made by shallow-frying, pre-made wonton wrappers.
I hope you have fun experimenting with this quick but tasty recipe!
Ingredients: You will need:
- Wheat flour (type of flour doesn’t matter too much), 3 cups
- Eggs, 2
- Water, 3 cups
- Green onions (finely chopped), ½ cup
- Cilantro (finely chopped) ¼ cup
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil (type of oil doesn’t matter too much)
- Chili Oil, Fermented Bean Curd (optional)
- Wonton wrappers
- Any other toppings / additions of your choice to wrap inside the pancake
Directions: This recipe produces around 5 servings.
- Add 3 cups of flour to a bowl.
- Crack 2 eggs into the bowl
- Add cold water slowly into the bowl by keeping the faucet barely open and taking the bowl out every 10 seconds or so to mix.
- Mix thoroughly—at first, as you add more water, you may notice “clumps” forming in the mixture. Be sure to continue stirring until these clumps mostly disappear.
- The purpose of adding the water slowly is to prevent these clumps from growing larger—it is hard to dissolve the clumps if you add too much water at once
- The consistency we are looking for at the end is in between the dough and soup. The exact amount of water needed for this recipe is hard to measure because we are adding it incrementally.
- Chop green onions and cilantro relatively finely and add them to the mixture. Chopping them too big may prevent them from properly incorporating into the batter. Chopping them too small may make them burn before the pancake is fully cooked yet.
- Add salt and any additional spices you wish to include. I often like to include a bit of spice, so I mixed chili oil and fermented bean curd and added this mixture to the batter. You may instead want to add additional ingredients, like onion, peppers, etc.
- After adding all the ingredients, be sure to mix thoroughly one last time.
To cook the pancakes:
- Add oil to a nonstick pan on medium-low heat. Medium low heat guarantees that the pancake will not solidify before you finish spreading out the batter into a circular shape.
- Add a few spoons of the batter to the center of the pan and spread the batter out until it more or less fills up the pan and forms a circle.
- Turn the heat slightly up to medium or medium high so that the pancake can form a nice color on the outside.
- Flip the pancake when the other side develops a brown color; be careful! This process only takes around 1-2 minutes. If needed, flip the pancake around a few more times to fully cook it.
- Repeat steps 1-4 until you use up all your batter, making sure to adjust the heat according to the instructions. You may also need to add more oil before you begin cooking each pancake.
If you want to, you can stop here. However, if you want to add a few extra ingredients, please follow the steps below:
- Take out your wonton wrappers and bring them to room temperature—if needed, you can defrost them using the microwave.
- Season the wonton wrappers with a touch of salt and pepper to give them some flavor
- Turn the heat up to medium-high
- In the same oil that you used to cook the pancakes (which should have developed some flavor by this point), place the wonton wrappers in.
- Carefully monitor the wonton wrappers and flip them over when the other side turns brown. With medium-high heat, this process takes only 15-25 seconds. I find it easiest to flip them over with a pair of chopsticks.
- Take the crisps out and let them dry on a towel.
About the author: Owen Lu, age 16, California, is currently a high school junior and is particularly interested in STEM subjects like physics and computer science. When he’s not solving problems, he enjoys playing the violin, sailing, and cooking.
Weaknesses in the U.S. HealthCare System
What I Perceive as Weaknesses in the U.S. HealthCare System:
An Analysis from a Personal Point of View
By Samantha Bean, High School senior, Vermont
My mother has an autoimmune disorder and was diagnosed at 4 years old. There is still no cure for autoimmunity, so it has been a 46-year-long process of appointments, labs, tests, scans, procedures, and surgeries. Doctors she has seen have not given her a diagnosis or clear course of treatment, so she lives day to day, just trying to manage her pain and symptoms. From the experience of a daughter who has been along this journey with her, I have seen how inefficient and unaccommodating the healthcare system can be and want to share my insight and experience.
As a citizen wanting to take action with any issue, I believe it is important to first educate myself about what is already being done.
In July of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Act, also known as the Social Security Amendments of 1965. It established both Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs for the elderly and people with low income. Next, the Affordable Health Care Act is a comprehensive health reform law enacted in March of 2010. Its goal is to make affordable healthcare available to more people, provide consumers with subsidies, expand the coverage of adults below 138% of the federal poverty level, and support innovative medical care delivery methods to lower the cost of healthcare.
An important program in place is the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRPP). This program, under the Affordable Care Act Initiative, requires centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reduce payouts to care facilities that experience excessive patient readmissions.
Finally, an important foundation to recognize is the Commonwealth Fund. This foundation supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to promote better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency in health care, particularly for society’s most vulnerable: people of color, low income, and the uninsured.
Overall, it seems that what is being done is not accessible to all people. The programs, acts, and foundations claim they reduce healthcare costs and give people access to health care, but a research study by the Commonwealth Fund showed that from “March 28 through July 4, 2022, 43% of working-age adults surveyed were inadequately insured. This figure includes “…23% that were underinsured where their benefits did not give them access to affordable care.” There are many reasons for this, but one includes how health care providers are unwilling to run into obstacles when trying to bill Medicaid or Medicare, leaving only a handful of doctors that accept this type of insurance. Various surveys, like one by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), showed that providers are significantly less likely to accept Medicaid or Medicare. This specific study showed that physicians were less likely to accept new patients insured by Medicaid or Medicare, an average 64.75% acceptance, compared to private and much more expensive insurance, 90% acceptance (MACPAC June, 2021).
As a part of my research, I interviewed a physical therapist that works in the Sarasota, Florida area. He has worked as a private physical therapist who does not accept insurance and controls his own rates. But, he has also worked as a physical therapist at a hospital, where he often saw first hand how insurance coverage affected patients’ care. The therapist tries to make his practice more accessible for most people who may need his help. He keeps his prices at a level that he is comfortable charging, even though there are providers that charge significantly more in an attempt to attract high earning clients. He is also building a digital service into his practice that reduces costs without sacrificing quality of care for people who have undergone ACL* surgery. In doing so, he can charge lower rates while delivering a great outcome for his clients, which makes it a feasible option even for those who do not make a lot of money.
In my interview, the physical therapist said that a weakness of the healthcare system is that the quality of care seems to be highly variable from one hospital to the next, and even from one provider to the next. The quality of care, he says, is also dependent on your insurance coverage and your ability to pay for the care you need. He says that insurance companies make themselves a “middleman” in healthcare payments and make massive profits in that role. They have the ability to promote or approve certain procedures and reject payment for others, which takes some of the power of decision-making away from the provider and patient, sometimes with minimal regard for the best interest of the customer or patient. He also says that the added administrative workload that insurance places on the healthcare system comes with huge costs. He recognizes the need to ensure that the healthcare system is not overwhelmed with unnecessary services, but there are huge barriers and costs introduced in these processes. He has “more questions than clear answers, but when I see the profits that insurance companies pull in by acting as gatekeepers in healthcare, I have to wonder if all that money could be put to better use in other hands.”
I think this was a really important part of this interview. With any issue, progress will not occur without asking questions, doing research, and recognizing what is already being done. As an active citizen, it is important to recognize this. Like I mentioned before, I am not writing to propose a solution. I am writing to express my concerns and share some insight I have gained with my personal experience.
While I have been an active part of my mom’s experience, especially in the last few years, there are many elements of her story that I was unaware of. So, I asked her a series of general and personal questions about her experience and what she thinks the weaknesses in the healthcare system can be. Because of her extensive experiences, she provided insight on what she thinks would shift our healthcare system to being stronger, efficient, and accommodating for all people.
It is still undetermined what health, environmental, societal, cultural, or dietary factors can affect or cause autoimmunity. Her experience as a patient and the research she had done has informed her opinion that there is a mind-body connection that doctors could be overlooking. The Myth of Normal, a book by Dr. Gabor Maté, emphasizes how the problem is that doctors are not educated on the mind-body connection, as it would force them to go beyond medical history and break boundaries of treatment protocol. Currently, there are only short-term solutions to autoimmune symptoms, symptoms that are very diverse and unpredictable. This also results in duplicated tests that end up costing a significant amount of money. In her experience, autoimmune disorder patients are tossed around from doctor to doctor, not getting any closer to how the patient feels and what might be going on, making patients feel like their experience is not valid or real. In this way, doctors project their own inadequacy.
She made an interesting point about a “team approach” when it comes to doctors’ care. When someone is diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, regardless of doctors understanding, there should be more communication rather than just sending patients to specialists who are unable to see the big picture behind what is going on in the body.
Next, we discussed the costs of insurance and treatments. She most often pays for tests and procedures with cash and she recognizes that this is a privilege, however; her insight shows her knowledge on both sides, as in recent months, she has had to use Medicaid for increased tests and procedures. Interestingly, when paying cash, she was scheduled right away because it guaranteed a direct payment. With insurance though, she first has to find somewhere that accepts her insurance and get authorization from the insurance company, even if the doctor orders it. Even after all of this, insurance companies have the right to say they will not pay for something. The medical system, unfortunately, has proved to be a money-making business where your level of insurance or ability to pay cash determines your level of care. Insurance costs only become expensive if you become sickly, as it is more profitable to keep people sick.
Who’s keeping the doctors accountable for their level of care based on your ability to pay? Micheal Pollan, the narrator of the documentary, Food Inc., said in his book, In the Defense of Food, that “much lip service is paid to the importance of prevention, but the healthcare industry, being an industry, stands to profit more handsomely from new drugs and procedures to treat chronic disease than it does from a wholesale change (Pollan, M., In the Defense of Food, 2008).”
Another point my mom made was that with no underlying illnesses and only regular checkups, a person may spend $2,000 a year on the care itself, but their insurance premium alone is probably close to $1,000 a month. Where is all that money going? When you pay cash, prices are significantly less than they pay with insurance. A fee should be a fee, but since insurance is a business, patients are often treated like business propositions, not human beings. Furthermore, why do pharmacies charge differently? With GoodRX, you can save up to 80% on your prescriptions. Where is the money difference being absorbed and who is getting paid?
My mother’s insight is significant because even outside of being an autoimmune disorder patient, she has noticed the weaknesses in the healthcare system as a whole. Talking specifically about food and nutrition, an interesting point she made was how health should be followed like a story. Doctors need to be educated to treat people from the very beginning about a healthy lifestyle. If we are what we eat, how can we be healthy if we are not taught from the beginning how to maintain a healthy diet?
Another point that Micheal Pollan made in his book was how chronic diseases are often affiliated with genetics or demographics, “however; the Western diet and lifestyle, and more specifically, industrialization, has heavily affected the rates of chronic disease like cancer and heart diseases.” This implicitly brings up the idea of how we might be too concerned with supporting a system that is broken rather than strengthening the system from the ground up to promote health and care for all people. Are we more focused on sustaining people’s health or short-term treatments for their medical problems?
There is clearly a problem, and I think it is my right to question what is being done, or more yet, what is not being done. I believe this is a critical issue that affects far too many people. But in order to progress, it is crucial that we look logically at what is happening in our healthcare system. It is time to strengthen the system and get to the root of the problem, rather than making short-term fixes that only support the system as it is.
By Samantha Bean, High School Senior, Vermont.
*ACL: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the key ligaments that help stabilize the knee joint. ACL is commonly torn during sports that involve sudden stops and changes in direction.
Women in S.T.E.M. Contest Winners
We are pleased to share with you the four winning entries from the Soroptimist International of Eugene and Skipping Stones sponsored Women in S.T.E.M. Writing Contest held recently. The winners were recognized at an awards ceremony held in Eugene on March 8th, the International Women’s Day. You can also read these in our Spring 2023 issue.