Just a Thought for Cyber Monday

Not just for Christmas anymore. Let's make this last all year, and into eternity. Start by not buying anything online today, but that's the least you can do.

All of our biggest problems are caused by feeding into the greed of people who amass too much money and power. And by our silence and complacency, we allow it!

We all suffer from it here in the U.S. with our corrupt government, the system of corporate and private interest money going into lobbyists and sources of influence to tweak the system in their favor and not the people's.

It's one thing to make money or turn a profit, but when it's at the expense of millions of people's lives and well-being, that's greed. Our healthcare system is a good example of that, the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are perfect examples.

Even not-for-profit entities turn profits and instigate violent knee-jerk reactions to anything that might interfere with their money-making ability. Case in point: Health Care Systems. Anyone who strays outside a narrow set of lines is removed as quickly as possible by whatever means necessary, by a culture of corporate bullying that the law allows, because the law favors those with money and power.

Nurses are a readily available, exploitable source of labor easily manipulated by threats to their livelihood and licenses. Amanda Trujillo's case is one notable example, but there are many others, too numerous to track. The collusion of management, corporate culture, state-run licensing boards, and legal impediments to organized labor all contribute to an impossible situation for anyone who questions their motives or points out their hypocrisy, or worst of all, identifies a hazard to the public and tries to do the right thing to fix it.

In a conversation with a number of nurses recently, someone pointed out the analogy of a jumbo jet. If we treated airline pilots the way we run health care and nurse labor practices, any jet that took off would stand no chance of landing without crashing because there would be so many unresolved safety issues.

Make your new year's resolution something that will help all people. Resolve to make a statement, put your energy into changing the balance of power. It takes a lot of people, not just a few vocal ones. Instead of using the Internet for shopping, use it for social change. Write a letter, spread the word, don't just make people aware, motivate them to take action.

That's my $.02 for the day. Back to work...