Category Archives: Humanity

Purpose and Meaning

15 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Theology

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Have you ever driven through sections of town that raise questions?  When you look around, you can’t help but wonder what happened?  Have you driven through a city to a section where you can literally see a lack of hope and future in the faces of the people and the properties and the landscaping?  The entire area just looks and feels empty of life.  There is survival, but that’s about it.  And often it gets summed up as this – Why am I still here?

So often we look to government to provide for people who are poor – and government does to some degree.  But government is limited – it can only touch on people’s material needs.  It can’t touch the intangibles.

These are intangibles like community, spiritual needs, existential needs.  I don’t care who you are, we all have these needs and often these needs are going unmet.

This is an opportunity for the church.  This is one area that the church has a unique opportunity and role in the lives of people – to do something that no one else can do.  To help people answer the question of why they are still here.

There are many people who seek purpose and meaning.  It’s as if they are waiting for an answer to just show up.  They don’t know where to search for the answer to the age-old question – and so they just exist.  And after you have done that for a long time, you forget that you were searching.  And instead, you bide your time, you distract yourself, and you find ways to fill the void in life.  Too many turn to unhealthy distractions of drugs, alcohol, sex, and entertainment.  Others turn to work and materialism.

But none of these can offer the answer to these deep questions about life.  And this is where the church can step in and help people with these questions.  It’s what makes the church unique.  But it requires a long-term commitment.  It requires an outward focus.  It requires trust and a willingness to ask difficult questions and sit with uncomfortable questions.  It takes time.

Purpose and meaning – even people who we think don’t care about these things really do.  Purpose and meaning are the difference between existing today and having direction.

Responding to white supremacists

14 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Organizational theory, Politics

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By now, everyone is familiar with the white supremacists who held a “rally” in Charlottesville, VA.  I put that in quotes because extremists don’t hold rallies – they hold gatherings that are designed to cause problems.

There was a counter protest, which we all heard about.  And there was violence.  And even three deaths as a result.  Evil usually demands a blood sacrifice, this would be no different.

Frankly I’m tired of white supremacists and their tactics and their belief that their ideas are just a-ok and deserve attention.  I understand the desire to hold counter rallies.  But here’s some things that concern me with these counter rallies.

What is the purpose of the supremacists in holding a “rally?” to cause problems.  Why?  To get attention, ultimately.  What happens when there is a major counter-protest?  The counter protestors give the supremacists exactly what they were seeking – attention.  When we give attention to something, we give it legitimacy as if the ideas presented were of equal weight and consideration.  Let’s be clear, they aren’t.

I understand that we want to speak out firmly against what the supremacists stand for.  I agree.  I just wonder if there is a different way to go about it.  A way that wouldn’t give the supremacists what they wanted – attention.  It seems as though the supremacists plan their rallies so that they hope there is a counter-rally.  It just adds to the attention.  They are sure to get coverage because emotions run high when you have something like this that touches people’s nerves and identity.

The problem with this is that the supremacists end up controlling the message of the day – they become the focus.  Their hatred is the message.  The violence that they cause is what is displayed and talked about.  They get what they want.

I’d rather see something else take place.  What if we responded differently?

These protests are known in advance.  That gives communities time to think through a response.  Here’s my idea.  Instead of holding a counter rally that gives the inmates of the asylum a full voice and all the attention they want, why not give them no attention at all.  But do it a coordinated way that is very unique, that is active, and changes the message completely.  In other words, change the rules of the game.  If the supremacists desire attention and want there to be a counter rally – do what you can to change that so they get minimal attention and the message is not in their control.

How would this happen?  Here’s one idea – get everyone to vacate town.  What if the town became a ghost town on the day of the supremacists rally.  Not a soul in opposition – no one there at all.  No one waving any banners.  No one chanting at the supremacists.  Just an empty town.  You see, everyone has a right to speak.  But that doesn’t mean we have to listen.  It doesn’t mean that what everyone speaks is of equal value and worth.

By way of analogy, take a different situation – when a toddler starts to pitch a fit in a mall, they are seeking attention to get whatever it is they want.  When we pay attention to the toddler and respond, or fight with them, or talk with them at all, we are giving the toddler exactly what the toddler wants – control over the situation.  Instead, the best thing you can do is realize you are the adult and they are the child.  You ignore them completely, even to the point of walking away.  You can’t rationalize with a toddler – they don’t have the capacity for rational conversation.  You aren’t going to convince them to stop their fit.  You just need to walk away.  Frankly, these supremacists are no different – only more violent and irrational than a toddler and a bit older (Which means they ought to know better).

If everyone vacated town, it would send a message that the supremacists words are being shunned because they carry no worth and no value.  It would also draw attention away from the supremacists to the counter message, if you want to call it that.  In this case, you’d have one spokesperson for the town.  Someone who could do any interviews the media wanted.  It would be best if it was a pastor or someone who could speak from a religious context.  The response to any question would be similar – it wouldn’t be to engage in any conversation about the supremacists.  Instead, it would be to offer prayers for those that are hurting, prayers for those that are filled with hatred and rage, prayers for those that separate.  It would be to shift the focus from the message of the supremacists to a different message – a message of grace, forgiveness, and care for all who come to the town.  It would be a message of non-violence.  A message that says that we pray for those who are fearful and violent.  It would be a simple message, repeated over and over again.  It would be said in a calm manner – signifying with body language that there is no intimidation, there is confidence in a better way of living and behaving.  It would be displaying a vision for what an alternative way of living would look like and behave.

Could this kind of response be pulled off?  I don’t know.  The larger the city, the harder that would be.  The more likely that others from outside of the town would come in to counter protest.  And realize that this way of thinking about countering the supremacists is very different from the norm.  Which is why I would be curious to see how well it would work.  And there is an added benefit – because this would be an unusual response, it would throw the supremacists off kilter.  They probably wouldn’t know what to do.  They might even wrap it up quickly and go home.  This would be telling – it would signify that all they really want is attention, and they didn’t get it.

I welcome your thoughts on how to respond to extremists actions in unique ways that disrupt the message they spout.  Please share them in the comments section.

What are the poor capable of?

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Society

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So, if i asked you what a poor person was capable of, how would you answer?

Did your mind immediately go to a negative?  As in what crime is a poor person capable of?

Or did you start to think of all the possibilities that a poor person might have available to them to change their life?  Did you think of how lazy a poor person must be?

Or how about this – did you think about all the things that a poor person couldn’t possibly do because they are poor?

What are you basing your answer on?  Do you know anyone who is poor – or (gasp!) homeless?  By that I mean, do you know someone who is really poor or homeless by name and could easily have a conversation with them, or do on a regular basis?  As in you are essentially involved in their life and they are involved in yours?

Often we middle class folks don’t like to get involved with the poor or homeless – it messes up our lives and is messy.  Making eye contact or getting to know a person’s name might just mess up our schedules, or force us to see the humanity in someone else.  Or it might cost us something.

But here’s something another pastor told me yesterday that struck me – God has a way of messing our plans up and stirring the pot.  When we encounter the poor and homeless, it stirs the pot of comfort, of what is expected, and of what is considered normal.  Those that are different make the rest of us uncomfortable. But it is in that uncomfortableness that we have an opportunity to see why we are uncomfortable and we can grow from that.  And we can learn what it means to really help someone who is poor and homeless.

What does it mean to help someone like this – it means not making decisions for them, but to walk along side someone.  That’s no different from if someone is helping you – do you like to be told what to do?

What are the poor capable of?  Well, for one, they are capable of putting a mirror up to us so we can see the fear that we have – fear of being in their place and situation.  Secondly, they are capable of humanizing us again by giving us an opportunity to see the humanity in someone different from ourselves.

All or nothing

04 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Society, Theology

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It’s either all true or it’s a lie…

It’s either my way or the highway…

It’s either (my political party) or else it’s the spawn of Satan…

You either agree with me 100% (and therefore you are right) or any disagreement means you are wrong and heading to hell in a hand basket.  Did I mention that you are going to hell, you heretic!  (Doesn’t that make you want to give up your beliefs and adopt mine)

It’s either this or it’s that…(And that is presented as a terrible option, if you want to call it that)

This is the logic that many people operate with today.  Then again, it’s not new.  It’s the logic that argues that either the Bible is inerrant (meaning incapable of any errors) or it’s a book of lies.  There’s no middle ground.  There can’t be.  It’s all or nothing.  Remarkably, fundamentalists and atheists use the same argument here.  Go ahead and tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor or irony now.

At any rate, all or nothing arguments are weak at best.  Yes, you heard me – weak.  If your faith in God can’t handle some questions, doubts, and some science that disproves some portions of the bible, then I have to wonder about your faith.

If you can’t accept that creation wasn’t made in 7 literal days, then I have to wonder if your faith is a house of cards – one card taken out and the whole things falls apart.  Are you convinced that you are going to become an atheist if you don’t buy something as it is literally stated.  What happened to faith being a gift from God?  Sounds like your faith is based on how right you are in your belief.  Which isn’t faith at all, by the way.

I also have to wonder why you pit science against religion and faith.  They don’t have to be in a mortal battle for Truth.  They could be seen different – like both helping to move us towards truth, but in different ways.  There isn’t anything wrong with that.  Accepting what science has found doesn’t diminish our faith.  At least it doesn’t have to anyway.

We can actually believe that evolution is pretty good science and still believe that God created human being in God’s own image.  (Gasp!)  We can believe that science has some pretty good ideas of how the universe was formed and still believe in the creation story (Oh the horror!).  We can believe that science compliments religion and faith.

Understanding evolutionary science has allowed doctors to better treat cancer.  That makes pastoral care much better.  Understanding the science also helps pastors deal with really bad theological statements like: “God doesn’t give us more than can handle.”  If we understand the science of cancer, we can understand that it’s not God doing this, and that cancer is random and sporadic and sometimes there really isn’t a reason for something to happen.  It’s not a test from God.  It’s not God’s fault. It’s not something designed to make you stronger.   It just is and it sucks.

But that means we have to broaden our horizons and see past the binary, A or B only, way of thinking.  We have to get out of our American, Republican or Democrat are the only options thank you very much, way of thinking the world works.

In most cases, there is a third option – and often a fourth, fifth, or sixth option.  And the amazing thing is that these options are not in opposition to one another – but they are other options.  The world isn’t about either/or only.  That would be really boring.  There would be no freedom.  Frankly, either/or sucks.  It doesn’t give us room for options.  It makes no room for freedom or love.  It kills peace and sets us on a path of division and war.  It squashes grace and forgiveness.  It ignores the reality that life is messy and rarely are the choices that clear anyway.  It isn’t based in reality.

It is great for an argument on the internet or if you are only concerned with being right though.  I’m having trouble thinking of another good use for this way of thinking though.

If you force me to pick in an all or nothing situation – I’m most likely going to poke holes in the assumption that there are only two options.  I don’t accept the premise.  I don’t think it’s based in reality, and I don’t think it’s being honest.  Which means the choices presented are themselves false.

Unfortunately, I see this way of thinking gaining a great deal of attention in recent years.  That’s unfortunate.  I hope we choose a different path in the future.  There are plenty of people who have been hurt by either/or ways of structuring society.  We owe them an alternative.  One that considers other options.  It’s time to leave either/or thinking to the dust bin of history, or else! (come on, you know you’re laughing at the ending here.  I just couldn’t help myself.)  Peace.

Anger feels good?

03 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by in Health, Humanity

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Recently I read an article called “Isn’t it Outrageous,” by Tim Kreider of the New York Times.  I don’t read the Times with any regularity, but occasionally something catches my attention.  The article was about anger and how good it feels.

Here’s the quote that caught my attention:

“A couple of years ago, while meditating, I learned something kind of embarrassing: anger feels good. Although we may consciously experience it as upsetting, somatically it feels a lot like the first rush of an opiate — a tingling warmth on the insides of your elbows and wrists, in the back of your knees. “

This caught my attention because I can not relate to this at all.  I don’t like being angry.  There’s no rush for me.  It’s more of an annoyance – something that I can’t wait to get away from.  Sure it’s warm, but it’s more like heartburn warm than warm and cozy.

Anger is very un-controlling and wild.  Maybe that’s what Mr. Kreider means when he talks about “the first rush of an opiate.”  Maybe I can’t relate to that because drugs never appealed to me.  I never understood the point.  Plus the potential consequences always scared me.  Addiction or death was never all that appealing to me.

But I’m guessing Mr. Kreider is not alone in this feeling.  It got me thinking about other feelings that we have that supposedly feel good.  Does envy feel good to people?  I can’t imagine that it does – Envy is just seething and slowly killing both the person who feels it and the object of the feeling.  How about other feelings that aren’t healthy that feel good.  I don’t know.  I’m having trouble getting the sense that I want to feel these things.

This also got me thinking about a common American condition – righteous indignation.  That’s my label anyway.  It’s the anger many people have towards their government, or any organization really.  People are ticked off that the government does this or that.  People are angry at something the President tweeted. People are upset at something their pastor said.  People are pissed about their job.  People are angry because the weather forecast isn’t perfect for their plans.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Mr. Kreider is right – there are many people who just enjoy being angry.  They will find anything they can to be angry about something.  It must be like a drug for these folks.  Being angry goes hand in hand with having a victim mentality.  It’s one thing to be an actual victim of something terrible.  I have great sympathy for someone who has been victimized and will go out of my way to help that person.  And frankly, someone who is victimized has a good reason to be angry.  I get that.

But it’s quite something else for a person to have a victim mentality and be angry at everyone and everything just because they aren’t getting what they want, when they want it.  That’s called being a toddler or an infant.  Mature adults know that this isn’t how the world works.

Is anger addictive?  Maybe.  I don’t know and I’m not going to find out.

Does anger feel good?  Apparently for some it does.  I’ll never know.

 

 

Where is our faith?

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Politics, Theology

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For regular readers of my blog, you know that I have a long history of political activity.  I learned a great deal from those experiences and am grateful for that.  I also learned some things that make me glad I’m no longer in politics professionally.

Now that I’m in ministry, all that politics is brushed away, right?  Not.  Not even close.  In fact, in many ways, it’s much more difficult.  I have a fine line to walk when I preach and when I wear a collar publicly representing the church.

I’m not a big fan of pastors taking up partisan arms for a political party.  I can understand why some do, but I think it blurs the line of what we are.  Are we proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus or partisan political party?  Are we claiming that our faith is in Jesus, or in some politician in Washington, DC or another capitol?

This of course doesn’t mean faith and politics never intersect. I think that’s a big naive and dangerous too.  We are called to be in the world and call out injustice.  And often that happens in political ways.

When I see pastors that make excuses for politicians or political parties – for what they stand for, or the policies they promote – I have to wonder.  Are they a partisan preacher preaching the good news of political party with its vision for how the nation will look when the party has power?  I recently saw a video of a conservative pastor who was praising the current administration in Washington and made comparisons of the president’s leadership style with Jesus.  I’m not sure what that had to do with the preaching of the Good News, but I do know that it advanced the Gospel of the administration.

Likewise, I remember pastors equating the previous administration with Jesus too – labeling the president as a messiah-like figure.  Again, I’m not sure why that was necessary or how that promoted the kingdom of God.  It sounded more like the advancement of the kingdom of partisan political party.

Where does our faith lie?  Where is our hope?  If it is in Jesus, then partisan politics can be seen for what it is – secondary.  It is certainly not to be ignored.  But neither should we put all of our attention and energy to it either.  When we do that – when we obsess about politics and give it all of our attention, then we have made it into a god.

When our politics becomes the basis for our decision-making, when we feel the need to pay attention to every tweet and press conference and announcement from a politician or political party, when we believe that we will have a brighter future (almost heavenly) if only we fund a specific candidate and work to get them in office – then I have to wonder where our faith lies?  Where does our hope lie?  When politicians supposedly have all the answers to all of life’s questions and problems, then where is there room for mystery and faith?  What is the point of faith at all then?

Too often I have seen Christians who are well-meaning turn to partisan politics.  I get it.  I’ve been there.  Religion and politics are not very different at all.  Both offer a vision for the future – of what is possible.  Both deal with immaterial things.  Both offer a gospel message.  Both claim to be able to save people.

By all means, participate in politics.  It’s how we advance policies.  But be careful.  When politics becomes the center and the foundation for making decisions, for the way we live our life, for how we spend our money and attention, then know that we have just exchanged our faith in God with a faith in a broken humanity.

Wheat and weeds

24 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Theology

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Are you tired of reading social media posts of “friends” that you are connected to who spend a great deal of time showing why they are right and their opposition is wrong?  I am.  Lately, as soon as I see what the post is, it just skip it and move on.  There are more important things to do, and frankly, I have enough stress in my life, I don’t need to add reading these kind of posts.

Tired of reading partisan political rants and posts about how (insert party or politician here) is just terrible, wrong, and yes, on the cusp of evil for the things that they supposedly say, do, or the policies they support?  Instead, (insert a more preferred party or politician) is so much better!  They have common sense of course with their common sense solutions.  They aren’t making (pick a group that can used for political gain) choose between (pick something that people need and/or makes their life better) and (pick something else). I am tired of this.  How do you all read all of these posts? Again, when I see that someone is posting something that becomes nothing more than an unsolicited ad for a political party or politician, it’s time for me to move on.

It’s the same stinking message, just change the players and the names.

It shows up in relationships where someone doesn’t like the fact that their (daughter, son, friend, coworker, etc) is (dating/seeing someone with a different skin color, speaks a different language, has a different religious faith, comes from a different country, is gay/lesbian/trans/bi/etc, etc., etc.)  It’s the same story, just the players in the story are different.  But the same arguments show up.

I’m right and you are wrong and you better conform your life to my way of living, being, doing, thinking, and believing – or else damn it!  Why don’t you see how clearly right I am?!?

Never mind that people’s lives are vastly different, that their histories are different, and there are innumerable other differences.  Clearly, I’m right and that’s all that matters.

Tired of this?  So am I.

So what to do about it?

Well, you could try to correct all the people who do this.  You’ll be exhausted and create tons of enemies.  You’ll get called names and threatened and all sorts of other fun things.  And you won’t change a single mind or heart – just like the folks who are doing this.  But hey, you’ll be right and they will be wrong.

Why on earth would you adopt the strategy of the people who supposedly upset you?  Why?  Yet, this seems to be the answer for so many people – do the exact same thing that you don’t like done to you.  That makes literally no sense what so ever.  Yet so many people do this.  Why?????

Want another option?  Try reading the parable of the wheat and the weeds from Matthew 13.  It was the Gospel reading from this past Sunday.

Matthew 13:24-30

The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat

He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

In this parable, Jesus talks about the wheat and weeds and how they grow together.  The sower of the seeds doesn’t tell the wheat to go and try to change the weeds to become wheat.  He doesn’t go and scold the wheat for not changing the weeds.

Jesus doesn’t call on us to change the weeds that surround us to become wheat.  Instead, we are called to be wheat – live like the wheat among the weeds.  Not to judge the weeds, or hack down the weeds, or condemn the weeds, or sow something terrible among the weeds because that’s what happened to the wheat.

Instead the wheat and weeds are allowed to grow together.  The wheat grows with the weeds.  This is our life.  To be with those who are like weeds.  But to be wheat.  To be wheat among the weeds is to live your life differently – to be in the world, but not of the world.  To love those around us – even the weeds.  To care for people – even the weeds.  To show that our lives are different because Jesus has entered our life.

If Jesus has entered our life, then it’s got to be changed.  We don’t act like weeds or the sower of weeds if Jesus is a part of our life.  Instead, our lives are changed and the methods of the sower of the weeds make no more sense and we don’t do them.

We are either wheat or weeds.  Wheat acts like wheat.  Weeds act like weeds.

 

Poor people

20 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Society, Theology

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Poor people.

Do you get an image in your head when you read those words?  If you haven’t been poor, it is likely that you do.  Or if you don’t know someone who is poor – the same thing applies.

It’s probably the image of someone wearing ratty clothes, is disheveled and messy.

Poor people come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and wearing all sorts of clothes.

Many people I know have a fear of approaching someone who is poor, or worse in their mind – homeless.

I think it’s the fear of what might happen – What might I lose or have taken away from me?

Maybe it’s a fear that I might have to do something – and I’m not sure what to do with poor people.  I’m busy after all doing stuff that’s important.

But have you ever spent time with a poor person?  Can you name a poor person that you know?  Do you know that person’s name?  How about a homeless person?  Know anyone by name?

It’s really, really easy to just drop a few dollars into someone’s hands and be off with your life thinking that you did something for someone.  But did you?  Or did you just buy off your feeling of guilt for not knowing what to do?  This isn’t something that is taught in school – how to handle an encounter with a poor or homeless person.

The first step in an encounter with a poor or homeless person – find out the person’s name.

Step two – listen to their story.

Step three – find out what the person really wants – it might not be what you expect.  But here’s the thing – it’s their life, not yours.

Step four – walk with the person and be supportive.  While you are doing that – draw out the value of the person you are walking with.  Everyone has value, find out what that value is and draw it out of them.  It’s like drawing life out of death.

A person’s name, being heard, expressing desires, and finding value is what being human is all about.  It’s what we are called to.

 

Spring cleaning

19 Wednesday Jul 2017

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The other day I did a little spring cleaning for my blog.  I looked at the blogs I follow.  I had 98 blogs on that list.  I started looking at when those blogs last posted to their site.  I unfollowed several blogs that didn’t even exist any more.  Then I had the difficult decision of determining which blogs to unfollow based on the last time they posted anything.  I decided that any blog that hasn’t posted in seven months or more is probably done – and so I was done with it too.  I found one blog that I was following that hasn’t posted since 2014.  When it was all said and done, I now have a list of 66 blogs.

So why do I tell you all of this – cleaning up is important.  Emptying out is important.  Going through the stuff you collect and getting rid of things is good.  This is true for physical things that we have as well as for the intangibles too.

When is the last time you went through your closet and got rid of stuff?  I’m willing to bet that you would be able to get rid of 25% of the things in your closet if you looked.

When is the last time you went through your ideas and beliefs about various things in life.  Are you still holding onto that old belief about God as some old white guy with a long beard sitting on a chair in the clouds just waiting to smite you.  It might be time to replace that belief if something that actually works and is closer to the truth.

Or maybe it’s time to get rid of some beliefs about money.  Or work.  Or relationships. Or success.  Or failure.  Or something about yourself.  So many options.

Clear out some of those things in your life that you just don’t need anymore.  You’ll be relieved.

Health insurance

18 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Health, Humanity, Politics, Society

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There’s a big debate going on in the seat of government about health insurance – or “health care” as it is always called.  However, the two are very different.  Health care is what doctors and nurses and pharmicists and other medical professionals do.  Health insurance is how we pay for it.  But health insurance reform doesn’t sound quite the same as health care reform does it?

Is the Senate bill a good replacement for what our current system?  Is it worse?  Depends on who you talk with.

It leaves me with a few observations though.  These are things that I think we haven’t answered as a nation.  And because we haven’t answered them, any change we make to health insurance is not going to go over very well – no matter how it’s sold to us.  But keeping what we have currently isn’t a good option either, long term.  But we have to start somewhere right?

At any rate, here’s a few thoughts.

What is the role of government in our nation?  This has been an ongoing debate since the beginning – one that we haven’t answer yet.  You’d think we’d have an answer after 240 years right?

What is our vision for the nation?  Where do we want our nation to go as we move forward in history?

What is the relationship between the government and the people?  If government is the one responsible for providing health insurance, does it bother anyone else that we have distrusting relationship between people and government?

Why in the world is health insurance still attached to employment?  How does this even makes sense anymore?

I wonder what a reformed health insurance would look like if the extreme ends of the political spectrum were left out of the discussion and the folks in the middle made changes.  Would it be better?

How much do we really spend on paying for health care?  Is there a better way to do it?

Why do we in the US focus all of our attention on sick care as opposed to more focus on prevention?  Prevention ends up costing a whole lot less, and it means that people are healthier.

What does our American culture and mindset force us into concerning health care and health insurance?  In other words, what are the things that are unnamed and hidden from view that drive the direction of health policy – good and bad?  Are these things that can be changed?  Or are we stuck?