Never Coming Back

 

I recently ran into an old colleague at the grocery store. She is one of the nurses I got to know quite well when I worked in the hospital with students. I always want to support nurses, as I am aware of the struggles, they must face each day they work. We spoke about how dismal, for lack of a better word, health care currently is. My friend said that it has become so bad we will never get it back. She felt that at this point they would be lucky to maintain what they have, with the hopes of it not getting worse. Of course, we both agreed that covid didn't help, she stated that covid exposed the cracks and they are now wide open. It was heart breaking to listen to someone that loves the people she works with, loves her work, and is really a caring nurse, feel so discouraged. 

Her words, "we will never get it back", kept ringing in my ears. I came away from that conversation with a mix of emotions. I am so grateful that I don't have to work in a broken system. The system was starting to break down when I worked, but not near the state it is now. I also felt sad, because I feel that there are so many good people trying to make a difference and they are starting to break as well. I was also a little angry and bitter because I feel the front-line workers aren't being heard. The people that make the decisions to have an effective health care system aren't listening to the people that are doing the work and what they have to offer. Such a missed opportunity for positive change. 

It seems systems are broken to the point of never coming back in so many aspects of our world. Policing for instance, their focus appears to be managing the drug world and the crime involved because of addiction. They work understaffed to try and keep us safe and I am sure they feel they are fighting a losing battle.  

Apparently, shoplifting is at an all-time high. The store staff are not required to try and catch the thief, probably because it is too dangerous. There are little consequences, if any, for taking what you want from a store and not paying for it. This has to drive prices and insurance policies up for all of us.

Before they can even begin to educate children, teachers must manage child hunger, mental health issues, domestic problems, and so many other things I am not aware of. Special needs are mounting in the classrooms and there is no extra help for the teacher or the student. Budget is always mentioned when it comes to getting more to educate the children.  

I have just listed health care, policing and education, but the list is much longer than that. Social services are overwhelmed with placement for children. There is a lack of places for people to get help for addiction, as a result they continue to use. The northern population are living like people do in a third world country. It is hard for me to think of what is really working well. 

Am I not a little ray of sunshine. I just wonder how this happened and what is it going to take? Some people believe it is because of the government. Others believe it is just society. It seems there is little accountability or consequences for actions anymore. In many cases, having pride in your work and demonstrating good work ethics seems to be lacking. 

I still hang onto a glimmer of hope, and I want to acknowledge those that give me hope. For those of you that go to work every day and do the best you can to make a difference, Thank you. If you have strong work ethics and believe a job is worth doing well, keep thinking and doing that. If you feel you are making a difference, that's amazing, you are. 

Being retired means you think you can look at problems, and have the wisdom to know what needs to be done. There are so many cracks in life right now, I hope there is a way for them to start to come together and make life easier and safer. 

I will always have hope that things will get better.  Maybe, this is where I close by saying, "everything is different now", and we may "never get it back". I guess we need to improve on our "new normal".