There Is A Time In the Future Where This Is Already The Past

About a month ago, I was feeling so hopeful after the House Republicans couldn’t even manage to hold a vote on the repeal of Obamacare. I thought it was basically dead. House leadership (not to mention our president) hadn’t anticipated they would have to navigate a very complicated and conflicting set of concerns about Obamacare and hadn’t developed the right set of changes that could navigate those concerns. Meanwhile, strong and powerful organizing in House districts had brought Representatives face to face with angry and scared constituents who told deeply moving stories about how losing health care would affect them.

It felt like we had won – we had effectively demonstrated the cost of eliminating the current system, flawed though it may be, without creating a viable alternative.

And yet here we are. The House voted to repeal Obamacare on Thursday. It is widely projected that 24 million people would effectively lose health care under this plan because it restores insurance companies’ right to deny coverage to people with a preexisting condition. As terrifying as that is, it doesn’t even touch the magnitude of possible impact. The legislation also changes the fundamental standards for what counts as health care, allowing insurance companies to reduce the scope of what they offer. That will affect people on Medicaid and medicare as well as those of us who get coverage through our employer. And even we who are employed know we could be unemployed at any time, lose coverage through no fault of our own, and then face a marketplace that doesn’t intend to serve us.

I hardly know anyone who doesn’t have a preexisting condition. I have chronic kidney stones – very expensive to treat but not life threatening if treated. I also have high cholesterol since I was a child. I’ve fainted a few times as an adult and been tested for the cause. It didn’t turn out to be anything of concern, but the existence of the tests themselves may be sufficient cause for me to be denied insurance. My spouse is diabetic, despite a lifetime of exercise and good eating habits. I have friends, nieces, nephews, siblings who have various health conditions. It is a fact of life to encounter challenges as you age. How can any of us hope to get to old age without something?

It is important to remember that the fight isn’t over. The Senate seems more reluctant to act so rashly. It will be another month or two before they can do anything. So we have time. Keep organizing! Keep telling your story to whoever will listen, and put it in front of those who won’t.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reflecting on this passage from the commentary of chapter 10 of the Bhagavad Gita:

Time is all relative, like the flow of water that runs in a river. Imagine a log, floating on the water from west to east. Somebody in the west would say, “I saw the log.” Now you say, “I am seeing the log.” And the person further east might say, “I will see the log.”

But the log is always there. Because you happen to see only so much, that becomes the present for you. … Past, present and future are just relative. It all depends where you stand and how you see. Space and time are unlimited. Thus, you more readily see God’s manifestation, in space and time.

There is a time ahead when this moment will be in the past. When our society will better reflect our values. When people will live with less fear and anxiety, and violence and hatred will subside. I am reflecting on the fact that that moment already exists. It is there. It is ahead of us. We haven’t arrived at it yet, but there is no doubt it comes. That doesn’t mean we should relax or shrink away from the fight of this moment, but we have to live and work in the certainty of its reality.

And that feels right, in part because we all know THIS moment existed in the past. When Obama won in 2008, it felt so beautifully liberating. It felt like anything was possible. It felt like the veil of ignorance on our society was being lifted. But we know now, that wasn’t exactly true. Instead, the seeds were already germinating for this moment. Some people saw that. Others, like me, didn’t want to see it.

This also reminds me of the yoga sutra 2.15:

The wise man knows that owing to fluctuations, the qualities of nature, and subliminal impressions, even pleasant experiences are tinged with sorrow, and he keeps aloof from them.

We are meant to hold the experiences of life – good and bad – lightly. Knowing that the good contains seeds of the bad and vice versa. We can’t sit in our certainty of forward progress. The dialectic, the push/pull, the pendulum swing is happening. We can appreciate the victories, the moments when things seem to go our way. But the work of yoga and social justice is to remain focused on the work. Practice. Stay detached from what seems to flow from that practice in any given moment. Don’t revel in the progress. Don’t despair in the stagnation.

Let’s keep moving people. The moment ahead when we will realize the world we want to live in is already here somewhere. It is our work that helps bring it to fruition.

With love, gratidude and solidarity.