Category Archives: From the Editor

Letter from the editor to introduce the issue

Waiting for a Madam President of the United States!

Waiting for a Madam President of the United States!

By Arun N. Toké, editor

Did you know that each and every one of the 46 Presidents of the United States, has been a male in its almost 250-year history since the Declaration of Independence? Since the founding of the nation on July 4th, 1776, not even one woman has been elected to the highest office of the land!

Ask your female classmates, neighbors, friends and family members, “Can a woman lead the country?” and listen to what they say. Likely, they will all say, “Women are equally capable as men to lead the nation.”

Across the globe, many dozens of nations—in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia—have elected women as presidents or prime ministers to lead their countries during the last 65 years. Some of these countries have elected women leaders multiple times over the decades. Various countries like the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Argentina, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Indonesia… the list is too long to include them all here! But unfortunately, the United States has not made the list so far!

Just recently, in October 2024, Mexico also joined the ranks of over 25 countries with women heads of their governments when Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as the first elected female President of the nation located just south of our border! Why haven’t we elected a woman to lead the United States of America yet?

Will the people of the United States choose to elect our first ever woman president this November? Many capable women leaders in other nations have shown clearly that women can lead as well as men, and sometimes even better.

Perhaps, you have studied the history of our country, and you know that women were not given even the basic rights to vote when the Constitution was first written. It allowed only landowning white males a right to vote. African Americans, and even the Indigenous People (who had lived here for generations) were not considered citizens of the country, and were not able to vote or run for any political office.

It was the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in the year 1920, after a decades-long suffrage movement led by women, that gave women the right to vote and thus help elect their representatives.

Interestingly, a number of European countries also enacted laws to give their women citizens a right to vote around the same time. Russia did so in 1917, Germany in 1919, and the United Kingdom began the process by granting women limited rights in 1918, and then full rights in 1928. Did you know that New Zealand became the first country to grant women voting rights in 1893? Nineteen other countries had also granted these rights to women before the United States did so in 1920. However, Switzerland did not grant women voting rights until 1971! In Asia, India granted some of its women the right to vote in 1935, while it was still a British colony. When India became an independent nation in 1947, the country’s constitution, adopted on January 26, 1950, gave its women full voting rights.

While the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the 1860s were enacted to bring full citizenship rights to non-whites and former slaves—primarily African Americans—it was not until the year 1965 as the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Johnson, that Blacks in the South gained meaningful access to the ballot box. Thus also including the African American women (who were left out in the 19th Amendment of the 1920)!

Unfortunately, the country still does not have a true democracy. Because we have an archaic system of “The Electoral College,” which gives disproportional power to small states in electing the President, at times, we have had presidents who did not get the most votes. For example, in the 2016 presidential election, even though Hillary Clinton received 2.9 million more votes than Donald Trump, she did not become the President because she lost the Electoral College. She came very close to becoming the first woman president of the country!

The U.S. Supreme Court Justices are appointed for a lifetime. And, they are not even elected by the people. Until recently, all of these justices were also male and white (Sandra Day O’Conner was the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981). They interpret the laws and decide what is constitutional and what is not. Here is an example worth noting: reproductive health rights for women.

In 2022, the “Roe v. Wade” decision, which had guaranteed national access to abortion for women for about 50 years was struck down by the Supreme Court. As a result, some states now have severely restricted women’s rights and have caused great harm to many women living there. Thanks to progressive leaders, Democratic states still have reasonable family planning options, including an abortion procedure, for families, couples, and women.

In 1917, Montana’s Jeanette Rankin became the first woman to serve as a Congressional Representative in the nation. Since then over 300 women have been elected to serve in the U.S. Congress or the Senate (the upper house). Ms. Kamala Harris became the first woman to serve as the United States Vice President in January 2021 after Sen. Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris (who had previously been elected as a U.S. Senator, and before that the Attorney General, of California) won the 2020 presidential elections.

In 2024, we have a precious opportunity to turn the page in our nation’s history by electing Ms. Kamala Harris as our next President. Who we elect as the President will shape the future of the nation (and even the whole world because of our tremendous global power). The implications of the choice we make as a nation are huge. We have serious issues facing us: the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the accelerating climate change crisis, and the nuclear weapons threat…

We need a truly capable leader who has a deeper understanding of the many complicated issues our nation (and our world) faces, and then lead us with fairness, kindness, and compassion to solve these pressing problems. Someone who knows and speaks the truth and works to bring the country together; someone who does not make hasty decisions based on short-term, selfish, or financial gains.

In 2024, our choice is clear, in my humble opinion.

—Arun N. Toké, editor.

Seeing the World on a Bicycle

Seeing the World on a Bicycle

By Arun Narayan Toké, Eugene, Oregon.

A few weeks ago, I bicycled the east rim of the famous Crater Lake with two good friends of mine. You might ask what’s so special about this bicycle ride?

On two Saturdays in early September, the Crater Lake National Park in Oregon (USA) closes the East Rim Drive to automobile traffic. Only bicycles and hikers are allowed to enjoy this beautiful mountainous landscape. It overlooks the incredibly beautiful, natural 2,000 ft. deep lake that was created about 7,700 years ago, when a volcanic eruption left a huge hole where the Mount Mazama once stood sky high—some 11,000 feet high. Snowmelt and rains over 750 years formed this crystal clear, deep blue lake. After the United States government made this natural landscape and its surroundings into a National Park in 1902, they also built a 33-mile long “Rim Road” at a height of about 7,000 to 8,000 ft. so visitors can appreciate the natural beauty as they drive around the lake to observe the varied vistas of the valleys and the mountains.

Each year, three to five thousand bicycle enthusiasts—young and old—come to ride around the lake on these two Saturdays. Some participants choose to hike or run parts of the scenic road with no shops or commercial activities. Every so often, you come across rest areas with incredible vistas of the lake (see photo above), distant valleys, and many spectacular mountains like the Diamond Peak. The organizers even provide several rest stops offering cold drinking water, snacks, and hot drinks. At one rest stop, someone even served us freshly baked, nutritious cake!

Two years ago, after bicycling a part of the East Rim Road during this event, my friend Daemion and I had hiked a mile down to the lake shore, and took an exhilarating swim in the icy cold waters, and then hiked back to the rim with about 2,000 feet elevation gain. (Daemion is a “pro” at bicycling. A few years earlier, he had bicycled 2,000 kilometers from his hometown on the Southern Oregon Coast to the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, and after his Peace Corps volunteering assignment in Sierra Leone, he bicycled over 1,600 kilometers to Ghana before returning back to the U.S.!)

With the popularity of the electric-assist bicycles, senior citizens and others with limited physical abilities are able to participate in this adventure, once reserved for only the “physically-fit” athletes.

This beautiful bicycle ride reminded me of my five month long adventure, several decades ago, when I was young and full of zest for adventure.

* * * * *

As a child, I grew up in Central India…my father had a bicycle repair and rental shop. Naturally, I learned from him how to fix simple repairs like oiling the moving parts and fixing flats in inner tubes. In the U.S., if you take your bicycle with a flat to a bicycle shop, they simply replace the inner tube. But in India, the repair shops actually found the pinhole using a container of water to see where the air was leaking out from the tube, and then vulcanized it. Similarly, when a tire had small hole or break in it due to wear and tear, they’d put a piece of an old tire as a backing to cover the worn out area, rather than replacing the old tire. It was inexpensive and meant for functionality, rather than speed. Only when it was absolutely needed would they put in a new part!

After I moved to Vermont (USA), I acquired a ten-speed bicycle. During my weekends or summer breaks, I didn’t shy away from bicycling 60 miles or so a day, over two or three mountain ridges with steep inclines. And, for the last 30 years in Eugene, my common mode of commute is bicycling. I believe I must have bicycled upwards of 50,000 miles (80,000 Kilometers) over these years.

* * * * *

I have cherished memories of my five-month-long travels by bicycle in Northern Europe. On my return trip to the U.S. in the summer of 1986, I was invited to visit some friends in Germany and in Sweden. After spending a few weeks of summer with my friends in Germany, I went to Stockholm. It was mid-summer and the days were long and warm. I decided spontaneously to buy an old (I’d say, antique), single-speed bicycle for a very reasonable price in the university town of Uppsala and bicycled south to the Stockholm! It was strenuous, of course. But after a couple of days of resting at my friends’ house, I was ready to continue. I had no idea where I’d go, how far I might travel, which way I might take, and for how long!

I set my next destination as Karlstad, the City of Lakes in Southwest-central Sweden. While bicycling in the afternoon, it began to rain. I kept myself dry under a porch roof and after a while when it stopped raining, I continued on. I realized I had not prepared well for the trip—no raincoat, no spare tubes, no bicycle pump, no tools, no tent, no bicycling maps, and no plans. True, I did have a road map of Sweden so I could decide which general direction I might take and what my next immediate destination city might be.

Que sera, sera! Whatever will be, will be! I wanted an attitude of faith and trust. I decided I’d deal with what comes my way, when it does! Since I had not made any big plans, I didn’t feel like I was under any pressure that I had so much more to travel, or that I had so little time left to complete my journey.

When it felt right, I would look for a place to stay—either a youth hostel or, if I was in the middle of nowhere, just sleep under the stars in my sleeping bag. Sometimes, I asked a passerby or a farmer along the rural road if they knew of a place I might stay for the night. Many a times, the farmers offered their barns… but they made sure to ask me if I smoked. When I told them, “No, I do not smoke,” they invited me to use their barn; and usually there was plenty of hay in the barn to make a good padding under my sleeping bag. More likely than not, I was also invited for a morning breakfast of muesli (cereal), yoghurt or kefir (cultured milk), toast, a good cup of coffee, and light conversation. And, then I’d continue on my journey.

At times, I bicycled late into the night… at that high latitude, almost near the Arctic Circle, the sun did not set until almost midnight. As tired as I’d be most days, I slept like a log, and I had no idea what time I woke up. I carried no watch, and in those days, there were no cellphones either. It was a totally carefree way to travel. I had no schedule, no planes or trains to catch, and nobody waiting for me.

My Swedish friends had told me that in Sweden, you could camp out anywhere in the countryside as long as you were not bothering others. If you camped about100 meters away from a home for the night, you’d be fine. I did not see any “No Trespassing” signs anywhere!

Most campgrounds did not charge you to sleep there; but you had to pay for the use of their facilities or restrooms, etc. It being a warm summer season, I was very comfortable sleeping outdoors without a tent; and at times, I found refreshing places to swim. International youth hostels provided a reasonable place to stay and a good morning breakfast. I often bought my supplies in small stores—fruits, vegetables, bread, etc. to keep me nourished. At times, I found patches of wild strawberries and raspberries in the countryside too.

* * * * *

One morning, after a good night’s rest out in the open countryside, I packed my bag and began bicycling. Soon, I rode by a few teenagers sitting on a culvert. They tried to make some conversation in their broken English and invited me to their home. Their mom served me a breakfast of fish curry and rice. They were refugees from Vietnam.

In one small city of may be 20,000 people, when I reached downtown it must have been past 10 p.m., I asked some youth (who looked Indian) hanging out in the town square, if they knew of a youth hostel in the town. They said they didn’t know, but that they were staying in a hotel, and I was welcome to join them. I walked with my bicycle over to their hotel. I found out that they were war refugees from Sri Lanka, and the government had housed them in this hotel. I watched them make hot, spicy curry and rice. Luckily, they had some yoghurt to go with the meal; I don’t think I could have possibly eaten that super hot curry with several tablespoons of red cayenne pepper. We had some good conversations before retiring for the night.

Another evening, it was raining—not very heavy, but a consistent rain. It was too wet to find a dry spot to sleep outside. So I waited out the rain under a roof before continuing on. Finally, when it stopped raining in the wee hours of the morning, I bicycled on towards the town of Holden in Norway until I found a picnic area, and I slept in my sleeping bag on one of the picnic tables; the grass was too wet!

Early that morning, I heard a car pulling into a nearby picnic area. So I figured it was time to roll on. Just as I was about to get out of my sleeping bag, a middle-aged woman from that car came walking to my table and said in Norwegian or Swedish, “Good Morning,” and handed me a hot cup of coffee and some snacks with a smile. And, she went back to her family for their breakfast. What a kind and considerate couple!

* * * * *

I kept going towards Oslo for a while, but decided to head south instead, towards the famous city of Gothenburg. It is the second largest city in Sweden. It’s situated on the Kattegat, an arm of the North Sea. After enjoying swimming at a vast beachside park, I continued south towards Copenhagen in Denmark. I connected with a couple of other cyclists, and we bicycled together for a while. That encouraged me enough to continue on with my bicycle journey. It had become a way of life for me. I pedaled across the southern region of Sweden to Kivik on the Southeastern coast. I was having a light conversation with the owner of a farm and I noticed that they were using a wood pellet stove for heating the farmhouse. During our conversation he realized that not only did I have an engineering background but also that I had written a textbook on Energy and Society, so he invited me to see his wood-chip stove and the heating system. After that he extended an invitation to stay with the family for the weekend. He said they had a birthday party for their daughter the next day and that I might like to experience that.

So, next morning—bright and early—we all walked over to her window to wake her up with a Happy Birthday song in Swedish. And the party was on! I felt like I was a part of their family. I wrote a story of this Swedish Birthday Celebration in English and typed it up on their non-electric typewriter and presented it to the family for their keepsake.

Then I bicycled west towards Malmö and continued over the bridge to Copenhagen, Denmark. While pedaling, my knee was acting up; even a slight uphill was impossible to pedal over. So, when I visited a Danish-Mexican family that I had met during my travels in Sweden, they suggested to rest up for a week with them. After that week of rest, when they suggested that I go north with them to a folk music festival in Aarhus, I was more than happy to accept. This way, they said, I would be able to ride through much of Denmark and get a feel for the country. I bicycled up one of the tallest points, Himmelbjerget (The Sky Mountain) in Denmark (150 meters high!) and then fly down it on my bicycle.

In the rural area of Denmark just north of Holland, while enquiring if there was a youth hostel in the area, an old farmer saw that I was bicycling through Scandinavian countries and invited me to his farmhouse. He also asked an English teacher he knew in the area who had visited the United States to check me out. After talking with me for a while and seeing my valid U.S. passport, he told the farmer that I was to be trusted. And he told me I was welcome to stay with them. The old farmer, close to seventy years, quickly cleaned up a spare bedroom in the house for me. We played a game of chess and ate typical Danish supper with Danish beer. The old man spoke no English and I did not know any Danish; but we had a great time. I was asked to come to a party the next day, but I politely declined.

While bicycling through Denmark, I noticed that I could see the inner tube on my front wheel; the old tire had worn out in a place after traveling more than a 1,000 kilometers. I bought a new tire at a bicycle shop at 5 pm on a Friday evening, just before they closed. They couldn’t put it on until the next working day and I figured I would do it somehow.

As I was bicycling through the city with a tire hanging on the handlebar, a middle-aged man waved me down and asked if he could help me with tools to replace the tire. We walked over to his home a few blocks away and replaced the worn out tire. During our light conversation, when he realized I had been bicycling through several countries, he graciously invited me for supper and an overnight stay. He was a schoolteacher and we shared good conversations on various topics. And, the next morning, I continued on my journey south to Germany, all rested up and refreshed.

* * * * *

Soon, I was bicycling through Flensburg, Germany. I continued on to the large city of Hamburg in Northern Germany, and visited a couple I knew from my trip to Guatemala. They had a new-born child, and I was amazed to see the planning and detailed work they had put in the bedroom for their baby. It was very conducive to a restful sleep. Every night, they read a couple of board books to the baby and turned on soft music to get the baby ready for a good night’s rest. I was included in the whole ritual!

After spending a few days with them sightseeing, I was on my way south. While crossing a bridge over the Elbe River in Hamburg, I saw someone walking about 50 feet ahead. I said to myself, I think I know who she could be. I yelled her name as I bicycled towards her, and sure enough, it was my friend Heike. What a pleasant surprise! We had met on our “Peacewalk Through Central America” a couple of years earlier and walked together over 500 kilometers through Costa Rica and Nicaragua. No wonder, I could tell who was walking ahead!

After a good conversation and quick lunch at an ethnic restaurant, we decided to bicycle on to Frankfurt. Heike needed to go visit her aunt there. She picked up her bicycle from her home, and we were on our way south. After spending a few days with her aunt in Frankfurt, I continued the journey to Heidelburg in Southern Germany. I had left my luggage with my friends there before I had gone to Sweden. After a few days of resting and sharing my experiences with my friends, it was time to begin my return journey.

* * * * *

Much of the time, I was able to bicycle on scenic and safe bike paths along the rivers in urban areas of Germany. In Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the bike paths paralleled the main roads but they were separated by rows of trees or some grassland and therefore, it was less noisy, more pleasant and much safer to bicycle on them. In some larger cities, they even had “Bicycle Only Roads,” with their own traffic lights! Throughout my travels, I felt car drivers were very considerate of bicyclists and pedestrians. They drove carefully so as not to endanger us. Once, I was pleasantly surprised when a big semi (a huge truck) stopped for me to cross the street on my bicycle.

The bicycle lanes and bike baths were free of litter. During my whole trip, not once did I get a flat tire; no nails, no broken glass or sharp objects halted my bicycle journey. My rear tire served me well until almost the end of my 2,500-kilometer journey. Then I discovered a slow air leak in rear tire near Wuppertal, a hilly city south of Dortmund. I rode up and down a steep, long and windy road on my single-speed bicycle. However, while climbing up I was going too slow for the headlamp to shine bright; the generator didn’t work at low speed! Other than that, this 50 plus year-old bicycle gave me no trouble on this long journey that covered parts of Sweden, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and Holland (the Netherlands). I visited some famous cities like Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Bonn, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Heidelburg, and Amsterdam. In a few cities, like Bonn (which used to be the capital city then), I even stayed long enough to know the local culture and attractions. This was the most wonderful, educational experience I could have had. It was beyond my imagination and it did not cost me an arm and a leg.

On my return journey, I covered the Netherlands in just a couple of days and arrived in Haarlem, about 25 kilometers west of Amsterdam. I had visited a Christian community in this coastal city some years earlier. So after a few days, I said goodbye to the Netherlands and left on a ferry to the United Kingdom, leaving my bicycle with the Christian community.

* * * * *

Life has taken a different turn since then. I have been publishing Skipping Stones, a multicultural, global awareness magazine for today’s youth for the last 36 years. My European experience was definitely a motivational factor in founding the magazine.

In Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, like so many other countries on the continent, almost all of the young Europeans I met were bilingual or trilingual! I wanted to promote this concept of multilingualism in Skipping Stones. In the beginning years, many of our published articles, poems, and stories were in two or three languages, side by side. Having grown up using three languages in India, it was normal for me. But not so for many Americans!

Unless you grew up near the Southern border—like in Arizona, Texas or California—where many people do speak both Spanish and English, it’s not common to meet many bilingual people in the United States. Of course, most new Americans and Latin Americans (including Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans) are fluent in at least two languages. Because I have spent more than a year in Mexico and Central America, I have acquired some ability to communicate in Spanish, and I know first hand, how comfortable it feels to have the language skills of the region you are visiting. Most Indians can vouch to this fact of social life; for we grew up with learning and speaking three or more languages in India. Mahatma Gandhi could speak 14 languages, I have heard!

Recently, as I was about to start writing this article, I came across a news report of Lael Wilcox, an American woman who bicycled around the world—over 18,000 miles (that’s 29,000 Kilometers) in a record 108 days and 12 hours—averaging some 160 miles a day! While my bicycling adventure was nowhere near that caliber, I have acquired a lifetime of experience bicycling through, and immersing myself in, five countries in about five months. I would recommend it to anyone who can take time in life to embark on such a journey. I have met bicyclists like Willy Weir, who have bicycled in many continents and written a few books about their wonderful experiences. One thing for sure, people all over the world are more than pleased to meet and greet adventurous souls, break bread with them, have chai and chat with them, and make them feel welcomed, wherever they are.

Bicycling is an amazing mode of transportation; I cannot say that enough. In today’s world where plane-hopping and automobile travel has become the norm for so many of us, bicycling offers a welcome relief. We can soak in the beauty of life, away from the hustle and bustle of busy airports or crowded lanes of our highways. As we bicycle, often we’re able to stop frequently to have a look at something that calls for our attention, appreciate the beauty that nature has to offer, or to say hello to people we meet along the way. Our carbon footprint is much smaller with the bicycling way of life and travels, and we get more value out of our time and money. Our journey offers us many surprises along the way while we keep our body healthy and fit; our muscles strong and vibrant while we keep on pedaling.

By Arun Narayan Toké, Executive Edior.

Seven Stars to Guide Us

Illustration by AI + Dennis Rivers.

Seven Stars to Guide Us

Here are seven stars to guide us,
inspired by the Prayer of St. Francis,
and focused on the inward path of every heart:

FOR THE SAKE OF MY OWN WELL BEING
AND FOR THE SAKE OF EVERYONE’S WELL BEING…

1. This moment and this day
may I walk the path
from blind anger to calm awareness.

2. This moment and this day
may I walk the path
from obsessive resentment
to expansive forgiveness.

3. This moment and this day
may I walk the path
from paralyzing fear
to courage inspired by love.

4. This moment and this day
may I walk the path
from doubt about external security
to faith in the Power of Life within me,
the same Power that makes all things new.

5. This moment and this day
may I walk the path
from the isolation of seeing everyone as a threat,
to the community of embracing everyone as kin.

6. This moment and this day
may I walk the path,
from embarrassment and humiliation
in the eyes of others
to remembering that we are all evolving stardust,
capable of turning every mistake
into an opportunity to grow.

7.  This moment and this day
may I walk the path, from a disappointed
and wounded sense of entitlement,
to a deepening gratitude for the whole wide world,
for Breath, and Earth, and Sky and Life.

For each breath can be received
as an amazing gift from the Universe,
waiting to be transformed
through our journey into the Light
into something kind, creative and beautiful.

May we begin
with this present breath!

By Dennis Rivers. Illustration by AI + Dennis Rivers. 2024 
Public Domain ;  EarthPrayer.net/prayer-evolving/seven-stars/ 

World Environment Day, June 5

The World Environment Day, June 5

Snow-fed mountain streams bring us water year around. Photo taken in the Oregon Cascades by Arun N. Toké.

Greetings! We wish you all a very happy World Environment Day, being observed today (5 June 2024) around the world with the theme of Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.

World Environment Day is one of the biggest international day for remembering our relationship to the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach (similar to the Earth Day that has been observed in the United States since 22 April 1970). It is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

Our Backyard Garden. Photo: Arun N. Toké

Early this morning, as I began my day, I ventured out in our backyard garden, nibbled on a handful of berries that had ripened, and looked at how the garden was doing in the warm, late spring weather. Then later while I bicycled to work, I enjoyed the clean air that I breathed in and appreciated the shrubs and trees that enlivened my way to work. This daily, relaxed way of commuting to work gives me some time to think on what I need to focus on at work and to plan my day to achieve the needed tasks.

Without the natural environment (aka biosphere) that makes life on our precious Earth possible, we simply can’t exist. We owe Mother Nature our immense gratitude for this lifetime of opportunity to experience the incredible beauty and complexity of life.

Vultures Devouring a Dead Seal on the Waldport Beach, Oregon. Photo: Arun N. Toké

Let us do everything humanly possible to keep the biosphere intact. Let’s appreciate what nature has sustained for millions of years. Human life has been around for just a small fraction of that time. True, with our intelligence and industry, we are able to alter the natural conditions in our surroundings for our temporary pleasures. And that is a big problem! We don’t see the long-term impact of what our technology and industry, economic and political systems, and greedy ways are able to do.

Land restoration is a key pillar of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Visit the World Environment Day website.

As we observe the World Environment Day, I would like to leave you with some images I carry with me on my cellphone. Whenever I look at them, I remember my immersions in nature—be it working in the garden, camping, hiking, and wandering through the woods, rafting in a river, kayaking in a quiet lake, or feeling tiny in the vicinity of the Pacific Ocean—that these moments represent.

Pacific Ocean near Yachats, Oregon. Photo: Arun N. Toké

Three Sisters, Oregon Cascades. Photo: Arun N. Toké

Many Great Blue Herons Enjoying a Winter Afternoon near the Delta Ponds, Eugene. Photo: Arun N. Toké

A Big Compost Bin in my Friend’s Backyard Produces Rich Soil for Garden. Photo: Arun N. Toké

Paul Dix’s Lettuce and Chives Patch Produced Tasty Greens! Photo: Arun N. Toké

“Walking Onions” in Paul Dix’s Garden Provide Onions, Season after Season! Photo by Arun N. Toké.

Educational Struggles in Latin America

Educational Struggles in Latin America

By Camila Ayala, age 17, Georgia

“I spent much of my childhood in Honduras, where I was able to observe firsthand the disregard for children’s education. Children without the means to pay for tuition were not assured of a quality education. Later, I was fortunate enough to move to the United States. Nevertheless, when a family member who works as a teacher in Honduras begged my family for school supplies for the children she teaches, I was moved to revisit this harrowing subject. She mentioned the number of children who don’t even have notebooks or pencils. These children also had difficulty traveling to school, and once they were there, they were not provided with the necessary amenities, such as air conditioning in the classrooms to deal with Honduran intense heat. I was astounded at how little thought was given to obtaining the right materials for these young students, and how the teachers were forced to seek assistance because they were not receiving any. My awareness of the severity of the issue has increased as a result of these first-hand encounters, which is why I feel compelled to discuss it and perhaps help others see how serious it is.”

In America, the majority of children eagerly await their summer break. They look forward to living in June and July, when there are no obligations related to school. These children enjoy those months as they are unaware of the privileges of the months that come before June and July. These formative months are filled with possibilities for education.

In contrast, according to Latin America Resource & Training Center (2023), only about 46.8% of children in Latin America are thought to have completed their high school education, compared to 86.7% in the United States. Moreover, approximately 50% of Mexicans, Colombians and Brazilians do not have the skills necessary to solve simple math equations or to explain basic scientific phenomena. They are not granted the same benefits as the children who look forward to summer vacation, the same children who possess something so precious that appears to be a burden to them: an education. Due to their poverty and the lack of government support for these issues, these kids are unable to receive the fundamental right to an education. Additionally, for those that do, the challenges of poverty resurface, forcing them to drop out of school and find employment abruptly in an attempt to support their afflicted family.

The ability to receive a quality education creates a clear divide between the rich and the poor in Latin America. Identity, background, and ability determine educational opportunities for many of these children. According to the Global Education Monitoring Report, “In Panama, 21% of indigenous males aged 20 to 24 had completed secondary school, compared with 61% of their non-indigenous peers, in 2016. In Paraguay and Honduras, 32% of indigenous people are illiterate. Afro-descendants were 14% less likely in Peru and 24% less likely in Uruguay than non-Afro-descendants to complete secondary education in 2015. On average, 12-to 17-year-olds with disabilities were 10 percentage points less likely to attend school than those without disabilities.” These unfortunate children on the other side of the border struggle with discrimination in their education, which leads them to not qualify for prosperous jobs in the future. In a report published by the World Bank it was determined that the completion rates of lower-secondary school are lower for boys than for girls in most Latin American and Caribbean countries. All these factors contribute to children remaining in poverty, unable to access proper education, and subsequently as adults, they bring up children who also face similar struggles, thus continuing the cycle of poverty. Additionally, the World Bank in Latin America and the Caribbean (2023) states that Latin America was the area most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many school closures.

It is still challenging to offer these students the education they need and return to normalcy following COVID as a result of the lack of resources in most Latin American countries. Even the kids who are lucky enough to attend school frequently struggle to get enough supplies. In several countries, buying school supplies is not a yearly ritual, and many children are lucky to own a book-bag at all. For these kids, going to school is a hardship in every way, including getting the materials they need for the entire school day.

Finding qualified educators to instruct these receptive minds also becomes difficult, particularly in underprivileged areas where a large proportion of the people lack the necessary skills. Furthermore, children’s transit to the schools is often troublesome due to the rural seclusion in some areas. A report by UNESCO highlighted that “while nearly all children living in urban areas eventually enter the education system, the problem of lack of access to primary education is much greater for those living in the more impoverished rural areas.” Families often find themselves contributing to the truancy of the children, as the students oftentimes forgo attending school altogether due to the family’s inability or stagnation in their efforts. I have seen first hand that often the rural communities are less developed and therefore more impoverished. By giving more focus and resources to something that’s so important, many of these problems could possibly be mitigated over time. These children are their most valuable resource, yet they aren’t receiving the education needed to succeed in life and improve the communities in which they live.

Much of this could be improved by making efforts to fund school infrastructures and guarantee an equitable resource distribution. Everyone should be able to learn, regardless of their financial situation, so more efforts should be made to support children from low-income families and to provide them with high-quality education and whatever flexibility they may require. In order to help these children as well as themselves, the governments of Latin America should take a more serious approach to the problem of inadequate education. After all, as more people receive adequate education, more prosperity will be brought to these nations.

The education of these young people deserves international investments, and even though we reside far from them, we can still contribute by supporting educational initiatives financially and in other ways. Individuals possessing financial resources and power ought to think about investing in something truly worthwhile. Even though going to school can be stressful, knowledge and growth serve as the cornerstone for all future endeavors, and when these things are denied to you, your life’s foundation begins to splinter. We ought to remain strongly committed to education for all because it’s not always a given and those who understand its value should do their part to assist the unlucky ones around the world who lack it.

By Camila Ayala, age 17, Georgia. Having migrated from Honduras as a child, Camila is fluent in Spanish and English. She values family time and her education. Discovering a passion for writing, she dreams of becoming a lawyer to help those in need. Her future is guided by a desire to advocate for justice and compassion.

References:

Celebrating Earth Day!

Celebrating Earth Day!

Hugging an Evergreen Tree on a hike in Central Oregon. Photo: Mel Bankoff, Oregon.

Earth Day Greetings!

As I bicycled to work this cool, breezy spring morning in the Pacific Northwest, I admired the many new shoots reaching for the sun, and spring flowers seeking bees and other insects along the bike trail and sidewalks. I vividly recalled my childhood in central India. We lived in an apartment building right in the middle of downtown in the city of Indore. There was no room for any backyard gardens. But we had a very small windowsill garden space for a couple of pots. I remember the excitement I felt as the garbanzo bean plants grew new leaves or when those beautiful red flowers appeared on another potted plant.

Almost Everything in the Garden is Growing Vibrantly.  Photo: Arun N. Toké

We have been enjoying spring flowers in our garden, and harvesting arugula, fennel shoots, green onions, etc. Apple trees and various berries are doing their usual spring growth with a promise of bountiful fruit harvest! And, various nature hikes in the area fill our hearts with a sense of appreciation and gratitude to Mother Nature.

While many of us might be looking forward to visiting some special wonders of nature during school break this year—Denali, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Grand Titon, Redwoods or another beautiful place—like the Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, let us not forget that natural beauty can be found all around us, even in our backyard!

Horseshoe Bend, Arizona. Photo: Arianna Shaprow, age 13, Nevada.

Yet, I must share my deep sadness with you. Everyday, I am feeling the pain of countless children, mothers and fathers in places like the Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, where wars, climate change and droughts make living conditions dire for tens of millions. The military operations and environmental destruction responsible for human suffering go on unabated. Governments, including ours, are unresponsive to the needs of innocent, civilian victims. The human rights of millions of children, women and men are being violated. They are forced to live in subhuman conditions. Even in our own cities all across this so-called rich nation, countless homeless men and women live in less than desirable conditions. We are told there is no money for social programs, as the government spends close to a trillion dollars on feeding the war machines.

Skipping Stones, like any other socially responsible media outlet, has often shed light on the plight of suffering humanity around the world. While we don’t want to forget this pain and suffering, we also don’t want our readers to get depressed by the doom and gloom that’s all around us.

The list of issues we can and must face is long. It includes our ever-increasing use of plastics and forever-chemicals, the decimation of insect and bird populations, the climate change, disappearing glaciers, deforestation and destruction of natural habitats, over-fishing and overgrazing, mindless mining of fossil fuels, environmental pollution, groundwater contamination, land-use issues, nuclear weapons, environmental and social justice, and homelessness, poverty and hunger. You can add many more items to this list—both of local concern and global importance!

Our future survival and flourishing depends on how we respond to these problems we have created with our ever-increasing consumption of resources, economic systems, greed, privatization and exploitation of resources, for example.

You might like to ask yourself a few deep questions (see some examples below) and try to answer them honestly and at length:

What do we love about where we live?
How can we make a difference right where we are planted, in our communities?
How can we let Mother Earth know how much we love her?
What might we cultivate in our own backyard?
How can we help out our neighbors?
What small thing might we do today to heal the world and ourselves?
What is happiness?
What makes us really happy—happiness that might last for a really long while?
How much of material consumption is sufficient or plenty for our happiness?
What is the law of diminishing returns?
What is the difference between needs and wants?

And as a group of friends or community, we might ask:

Can an economy based on ever-increasing growth be sustained? 
Can we continue to use natural resources in an uncontrolled manner?
What can we as a community or society do to minimize our negative impact on nature?
As conscientious citizen and human beings, how can we respond constructively?

A Roadside Plant on the Big Island, Hawaii. Photo: Arun N. Toké.

Let us not abuse the gifts we have been granted by Mother Nature. Let us not knowingly degrade or destroy the very web of life of which we are an integral part. Human life cannot continue without this web of life—our biosphere. As “intelligent” species, we must address these issues that we have created collectively since industrialization.

Let us make an effort to appreciate the beauty around us, as we work to address these adversities. Let’s respect the many miracles of nature that surround us. Let us learn to enjoy even the smallest gifts that we receive everyday, be it listening to a bird song, fluttering of a butterfly or hummingbird, observing a cluster of green leaves or the multitude of seeds and fruits that plants produce.

Let us be grateful for the many blessings we have been granted. Let us live fully and let nature live—in all its glory! Let us commit ourselves to doing what we can to sustain these blessings, this beauty, for all future generations.

A Banyan Tree on the Big Island, Hawaii. Photo: Arun N. Toké

Dear fellow earthlings, let’s remember that Earth Day is not just April 22nd; we can observe it each and every day.

—Arun Narayan Toké, Skipping Stones editor.

We’re Getting Hotter by the Year!

A Happy New Year to all our readers, contributors, subscribers, and supporters, both here and abroad!

Photo of the Emigrant Peak, seen from Paradise Valley, Montana

Emigrant Peak, seen from Paradise Valley, Montana. Photo by Paul Dix.

Did you read that 2023 was the hottest year for as long as human beings have been on the planet? According to research 2023 was the HOTTEST year in at least the last 100,000 years! Don’t get confused just because there are a few regional cold spells—like the upcoming Deep Freeze in much of North America later this week and the recent Arctic Blasts in Scandinavia and Northern Europe!

Common Dreams and other news media reported (on January 9, 2024) that global average temperature in the year 2023 was 14.98°C—that’s 0.17°C warmer than 2016 (the previous warmest year), 0.60°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average, and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 (pre-industrial) level, according to the scientists at the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. And, the prediction is that this year, 2024, will be warmer than 2023! Why do scientists predict more of the same in 2024?

The global oceans paint a better picture of what is happening in the climate world because the heat gets absorbed in ocean waters. A study published on January 11th in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences states that the upper 2,000 meters of the global ocean was estimated to have an additional 15 zettajoules of energy in 2023 compared to the 2022 amount. The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that the world’s economy requires about half a zettajoule of energy to run every year, that means, the oceans gained 30 times the annual energy needs of the world. Fifteen zettajoules would be enough to boil 2.3 billion Olympic-sized swimming pools of water . About 90 % of the energy produced by global fossil fuels use is stored in the world’s oceans. Therefore, the ocean is warming consistently, year over year to new record levels, due to this increase in ocean heat content. The resulting increased ocean water temperatures fuel the weather systems bringing intense heat waves, hurricanes, and big storms—high winds and dump heavy precipitations.

The Paris COP agreement was to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C over the pre-industrial levels. Obviously, most countries will not meet that target because we continue to depend greatly on the use of fossil fuels—coal, oil, natural gas (fracked gas).

Unfortunately, the recent COP 28 international conference (like most of the previous ones) was not much more than a hot air balloon, and the next one—COP 29 is likely to be no different. So disappointing! What can we expect when these climate conferences are dominated by oil producing countries and thousands of black gold lobbyists?

We need hundreds of thousands of nature educators, activists and nature protectors of all ages, like the late Rachel Carson (author and marine biologist, USA), Sir David Attenborough (of UK), Bill McKibben (Co-founder of 350.org, USA), Greta Thunberg (from Sweden), Ilyess El Korbi (from Ukraine, Morocco, and now Germany), Elizabeth Wathuti (of Kenya), Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Native American from USA), Maria Reyes (of Mexico), Amma (from India), Tahsin Uddin (in Bangladesh) and Leah Namugerwa (of Uganda), people from all over the globe to wake us up from our slumber—to educate us and demand a change in the ways our industries, businesses, systems, people, and governments have been damaging and destroying the planet’s natural systems.

Won’t you become a change maker in your school, community, region or nation—wherever you are?

Presented by Arun N. Toké, editor. Based largely on several news reports published by Common Dreams (Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2024)

International Day of Peace, Sept. 21

International Day of Peace: Time to Act Is Now!

Happy International Day of Peace to us all!

Since 1981, the International Day of Peace (IDP) has been observed around the world on September 21st. The U.N. General Assembly declared in 1981, IDP as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. The ongoing wars in Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, and elsewhere show us clearly that our world needs peace more than ever.

This year’s theme is Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the #GlobalGoals. It calls us to get involved in actions that recognize our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace. Fostering peace will help us realize of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will create a culture of peace for all.

The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres recently said, “Peace is needed today more than ever. War and conflict are unleashing devastation, poverty, and hunger, and driving tens of millions of people from their homes. Climate chaos is all around. And even peaceful countries are gripped by gaping inequalities and political polarization.”

While the world is also observing the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide this year, IDP 2023 especially encourages all youth to be ambitious in their engagement as positive and constructive social agents, and to help us reach the SDGs and contribute to building sustainable peace. Together we can help to lead our world towards a greener, more equitable, just, and secure future for all.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981, two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire.

The Global Sustainable Development Report 2023

Since 2019, a progress report has been issued every four years. The latest 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report was issued on the 19th of Sept. at the 2023 SDG Summit which took place during the United Nations General Assembly session to follow-up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) entitled: “Times of Crisis, Times of Change: Science for Accelerating Transformations to Sustainable Development” finds that at this critical juncture, midway to 2030, incremental and fragmented change is insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the remaining seven years. Implementation of the 2030 Agenda requires the active mobilization of political leadership and ambition for science-based transformations. This must be achieved globally—leaving no country, society or person behind. The report is an invitation to embrace transformations with the urgency needed to accelerate progress towards the SDGs.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This year marks the mid-point in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs were defined to bring us closer to having more peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, free from fear and violence. But without the contribution of a wide range of actors including the 1.2 billion young people alive, the goals will not be achieved. So the U.N. invites us all to join the U.N. call to take action for peace: fight inequality, drive action on climate change, and promote and protect human rights.

The 17 SDGs, listed below in short, show the immense amount of work that is needed to bring peace and prosperity in our world.

  1. End Poverty: End poverty in the world in all its forms
  2. End Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
  3. Health and Wellbeing: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
  4. Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
  5. Women and Girls: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  6. Water and Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  7. Sustainable Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  8. Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
  9. Improve Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  10. 10. Reduce Inequality: Reduce inequality within and among countries
  11. Habitat: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  12. Sustainability: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  13. Climate Change: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
  14. Oceans and Marine Life: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
  15. Preserve Ecosystems: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
  16. Peace and Justice for All: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
  17. Global Partnerships: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Sustainable development can only be achieved through a societal resolve, which can come through public education efforts. Educators, therefore, have an important role to play in achieving the SDGs by 2030! The value of education—in its broadest sense—cannot be underestimated.

Happy International Day of Peace to us all!

Compiled by Arun N. Toké, editor.

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.