Who Are They?

Rep. Al Grayson (D-Fla) cited to this Harvard study when he stated that 44,000 Americans die every year because of a lack of insurance. That's one every 12 minutes. And although the study is one of correlation and not specific examples, the numbers are there. Mortality and lack of insurance are inexorably tied.

Who are they? Who are the people who died? I want to know.

What I really want is for my country to provide health care to them, preferably in the form of affordable health insurance, so that they get care early, and not so late that it's too late. Barring that apparent miracle, however, at least I want to know who they are. Who has died? Who have they left behind?

On September 11, 2001, we all sat in horror, helpless, watching our televisions. Doctors rallied to health care centers, waiting for the injured. But there were no survivors. So no one came.

For that week, I watched what I could, when I could. For as much as there was nothing I could do, I could do that. I could witness. I could cry. I could let my heart break for those left behind.

So it is the least that I can do now. The very least. And if I have no names, no faces, if they remain statistics in a study - at least I can have my intentions.