A Life Well Lived

My cousin, Fatimah Ali, died last month at the age of 55. A well known journalist, activist, and talk show host in Philadelphia, she was beautiful, brilliant, determined, stubborn, feisty, funny, and generous. She was also uninsured, so when she felt some of the warning signs that often accompany a stroke, she ignored them, fearing large medical bills.

A devout Muslim whose given name was Susan Hughes, she was buried on Friday, January 27th in the rain, lowered into her grave by her husband and other members of the mosque she attended. She leaves behind a stunned community, a grieving family, and 5 beautiful children to cope with a staggering loss.

Her death reminds us of the glaring inequities in our health care system, and angers me as well as saddens me. In a country that was once the wealthiest nation on earth, that prides itself on diversity, creativity, resilience and ingenuity, we are still struggling with the fact that health care is so often a luxury available only to the rich or to some – but not all – corporate employees. There are millions of people like my cousin who work in various capacities for large corporations, but are not covered by health insurance. In addition, there are untold millions who work outside the corporate world as artists, writers, dancers and other performers; caregivers, food service employees, chefs, builders, teachers, etc. etc. etc. So many people who, like my cousin, are uninsured or under-insured, and are therefore reluctant to visit health care providers because they cannot pay for the care or for their medications.

Why can’t we figure this out? Why can other nations get it right but we can’t? Why do our politicians continue to treat the issue of national health insurance as a political “football”, kicking it around every few years or so, without actually solving it?

We need to figure it out, before other peoples’ loved ones die needlessly. We need to make our voices heard, in whatever way we can, by whatever means are necessary.

Until the problem IS solved, we need to take our health matters into our own hands. Until we can change Washington, we need to change our behavior. We need to:

1) Educate ourselves, our children, our communities. We need to know the signs of stroke, of heart attack, of kidney disease, and what to do about them (check the web).
2) Educate ourselves about nutrition, healthy eating, and certainly in this economic climate, proper meal planning on a budget.
3) Advocate for fresh fruits and vegetables in our communities, particularly in inner city areas that have poor access to these vital commodities.
4) Insist that our schools provide nutritious meals for our children, meals that are low in salt, sugar, and empty calories. (NOW, not “phased in gradually over the next 10 years”).
5) Reduce our consumption of fast foods and packaged products that are full of sodium, chemicals and added sugars.
6) Learn to cook for ourselves and our families at home.
7) Integrate exercise into our lives on a daily basis.
8) Give up smoking and excessive drinking.

Back to thoughts of Fatimah Ali, nee Susan Hughes, who was born into a family of doctors, but died because she could not afford medical care.

Despite the contradictions of her passing, hers was truly a life well lived. I like to think that were she alive today to read this, she would approve.

“DO something”. She would have said. “Make some noise. Fight this nonsense. March. Protest. Boycott something. Act UP, Y’all!!”

Amen.