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Lemme tell you about a real national emergency in a single case. A former student of mine, a woman who returned to college after losing a job she'd had for 20 years, found out she had lung cancer last year. Horrible, yes. 1
She had become a grad student, and she came to see me to talk about taking incompletes in her classes and her options. This incredibly strong person, who once almost got into a fight in my classroom discussing literature, broke down into sobs. 2
She got treatment, and she was able to continue her studies. Then, last week, she found out that the cancer had returned to her lungs and had spread. She was tested to see if it had gotten to her brain. 3
It hadn't, but it had spread to behind her eye. That's right: behind her right eye, she now has a large mass of cancer cells. She had already postponed her studies and had to give up teaching for us. 4
The operation, as you might imagine, is incredibly complicated, as it involves cutting open her face to get the cancer. Turns out that there are only two doctors in the NYC area who are qualified to do it. 5
You probably know where this is heading. 6
Neither of them take her health insurance. Only one said he'll go ahead and do the operation, but she has to pay $25,000 up front. She does not have that money. 7
As fate would have it, her father is dying and he has a small estate he is going to leave her. Not much, but it would make a nice down payment on a house. Or maybe an operation. 8
She has asked her father if she can have her inheritance now so she can save her life. They are currently figuring out how to do that. She is lucky. If she didn't have this inheritance, she would die. 9
Don't talk to me about the harm a few people who are here without the right visas might do when we Americans are doing so much harm to each other. Don't talk to me about emergencies from afar when we let people die and call that "freedom." 10
