When I listen to the nightly news and hear the words “hero” or "courage,” "victor" or "winner" when referring to the current political race, I feel nauseated.
What sickens me is the sham of it all, how candidates will promise anything, declare devotion to an ideology that may change by the next primary. I don't trust these speeches, don't trust the motives of any political figure. They are self-serving, self-absorbed and want power rather than equity for the people. Recently, when debating healthcare, a commentator rightly criticized these bickering school boys, saying, “Don 't they see that the American people want and need healthcare, and here they are arguing about having it at all!”
I can't even watch the news lately. It hurts my stomach and my heart. I want real heroes who are brave and able to face challenge with courage and optimism, who are afraid yet doing it anyway—whatever is needed.
I found my heroes in an unlikely place. Well, actually, not so unlikely, the VA Hospital in Palo Alto. Here men who were once soldiers are sitting in recliners with needles in their arms. It's the infusion room where chemo cocktails are given, and every chair is filled.
My husband is in one of the chairs listening to his iPod. He greets every vet with a high five or fists that meet, and eye contact that says, "We're in this together."
I look around the room at the men and see such diversity. They all have some type of cancer, but are of every age, every ethnicity, from their thirties to their eighties, and represent every war we've fought in. Each week we become closer, and as I look around today, I realize these are the real heroes I've been looking for, and not just the patients, but their loved ones: the young wife holding her husband's hand; the daughter stroking her dad's head; the partner in biker leather who brought their fluffy dog for companionship. We become a family. I love these strangers, and know in the deepest part of me that I've found the real American heroes. They have served their country, have faced and seen death, and are once more fighting for their lives, and doing it with grace and kindness towards one another.
In comparison to these giants, our political leaders are pygmies. They lack the oneness of spirit, the courage to handle the real issues facing real people. They argue about healthcare, jobs, and bailouts for homeowners, but mainly disagree based on ideology, while our citizens suffer.
Maybe we should choose our candidates for public office from oncology infusion rooms, where the patients and their families reflect all the qualities I look for: courage, determination, comaradarie, inclusiveness, fighting spirit and willingness to face whatever comes with optimism and a hero's vision.
Susan Allison is a Santa Cruz psychologist and author of 'Empowered Healer' and 'Conscious Divorce.' She hosts a radio show, "The Empowered Healer Show," on Thursdays at 2pm at voiceamerica.com. She can be contacted at http://www.empoweredhealer.com.
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