Two years later

Two years ago today, like pretty much everyone else with access to a computer, I was blogging about Katrina.

Two years ago tomorrow, I was "sad and angry" about the f*cked up state of health care coverage in this country.  And the uninsurance figures have only gotten worse.  And, as I noted two years ago, having health insurance doesn’t mean that you’re not screwed anyway.  I got this video from the Edwards campaign in my inbox today — if you listen carefully, you’ll note that the woman asking the question says that she has health insurance, but still has had to borrow $50,000 to pay for her treatment.

Two years ago yesterday, I was blogging about the man who invented the word "genocide" and remembering the anniversary of the Beslan massacre.  At that time, I wrote "I suppose there’s not a date on the calendar where there hasn’t been pain and bloodshed, somewhere, somewhen."

This morning I was listening to NPR on the radio, and Cokie Roberts was talking about New Orleans.  She said that the areas that haven’t been rebuilt are strangely beautiful, because the ground there is so fertile that marsh grasses have sprung up already where there used to be buildings.  It made me think of the Carl Sandburg poem, Grass.

 Grass

            
         
          

Pile the
bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work–
                           
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and
Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and the passengers ask the
conductor:
                           
What place is this?
                           
Where are we now?

                           
I am the grass.
                           
Let me work

One Response to “Two years later”

  1. Jody Says:

    Mmmmm, yes.
    It also made me think of that new book about what might happen to the earth if all the people disappeared.

Leave a Reply


1 + five =