Taking Responsibility--Stop "Waiting on the World to Change"!

Something goes wrong.
We want to know, whodunnit?
Who is responsible?
Something goes right.
We clamour for credit.

So when will individuals take responsibility for other individuals?
When will communities that really aren't communities, neighborhoods of people who really aren't neighbors, and organizations that are nothing more than organized get a grip and start taking responsibility?

We want to blame others:
The government
George W. Bush
Liberals
Conservatives
Communists
Anyone-but-me

Mostly, I understand why. We don't know what we can do.
"I'm just one person," we tell ourselves, both despite and because of all the inspirational movies and stories told about "The Power of One".
It's true, and yet not true.
One person can have an impact on one group of people, which can have an impact on a state, which can have an impact on a nation, which can have an impact on the world.
Like a domino effect, one person gets the ball rolling, but can accomplish nothing in and of themselves. It takes a village. It takes a community, It takes the world.

One of the major things about America that bothers me is our health-care system.
First of all, it's too expensive. What does that mean? It means that major surgeries and therapy (like transplants and cancer treatment), which are essential for the survival of many who suffer from serious illnesses, are largely unaffordable. Most of us pay for insurance we will never need, but someone else will.
If all men (and women) have the right to the pursuit of happiness, etc. then it should be a constitutional right for all people to recieve health-care whether or not they can afford it.
The solution is NOT incurring mountainous amounts of debt (i encourage everyone to see the movie "Maxed Out" if and whenever possible).
If there was a way, short of social welfare, to make health care affordable to every American, perhaps someone would have tried it by now. Or perhaps not.

What if communities, neighborhoods, churches, came together and pooled a lump of their resources to collectively create a community-funded, non-profit hospital/clinic where everyone in that area could recieve health-care from yearly check-ups to major surgery at a minimal cost affordable to everyone?
Maybe it's time to do some research. See the churches on every street corner?
How much money ends up in the offering plates every week?
How much of it goes back to the community in things like soup kitchens, orphanages, etc.?
How much of it should?
If people could see their money being used for something like the proposal I wrote above, perhaps more people would give of their resources to churches in order to benefit the community, not the faith, not the pastor, but their neighbors.

It's time we stopped looking to a president, and/or groups of cynical men and women who have seen too much corruption to know the difference between right and wrong anymore. It's time we stopped "Waiting on the World to change" (John Mayer), and started doing what little we can to start something great.

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