The day Hippocrates wept…

All right, here’s the deal. This never-ending recession is bad enough, but NOW we have people breaking INTO jail just to get away from it!!! 

Upon perusing Yahoo news articles I found the following headline:  Man robs bank to get medical care in jail. Following is the link to the article which I suggest you read: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110621/ts_yblog_thelookout/man-robs-bank-to-get-medical-care-in-jail

Question # 1) Is this guy stupid?

Answer: NO. He saw a problem, he didn’t want to burden his family, and he found a unique way in which to solve it. He hurt no one in the process, he didn’t resist arrest, and he’s going to get his medical needs attended to by skilled physicians. Also, since he “robbed” the bank for such a miniscule amount, he got a lesser charge, and he’ll be out in time to collect his social security in a few years. So in my book, it’s quite the contrary, for this guy is PRETTY DAMNED SMART!!!

Question #2) What should we be thinking is stupid?

Answer: We should be focusing on the society that we live in that would drive a man to such desperate ends in the first place! In the article he is cited as saying that this “was the best of his BAD options.” The translation being that he KNOWS it’s a bad choice, but it was the most sensible one given his options. A famous standard of measure of a society is to “look at the way it treats its prisoners.” Well, by THIS standard, PRISONERS are getting BETTER healthcare than LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS!!! Now, I doubt that was what the person who said that had in mind, but it IS an interesting thought that has a few unspoken incentives for NOT playing by the rules any longer, wouldn’t you say?

And finally, Question #3) Why have we let our society crumble to the point where a man would HAVE to do something as INSANE as this?!

Answer: Numerous reasons could be: general apathy, habitual lack of empathy for our fellow man, a self-centered way of thinking that prevents us from looking beyond our own sphere. I’ll let those of you reading this pick your favorite.

I don’t think that I’d go to the desperate lengths that THIS man went to, but if nothing else, the following Buddha quote should make a case for this man’s unadulterated retention of his sanity: Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.