Last Monday I sought and secured an apt with an acupuncturist seeking relief fromexcruciating leg and back pain. I’ve had some pain these past months, but Sundayit flared up in a new way--uber pain--and I needed relief. The highly trained andexpert acupuncturist explained to me that in a perfectly healthy body oxygen andblood flow freely through our veins and arteries to feed our organs and muscles.Yet when blockages occur in our arteries and veins, the potential for diseaseerupts, often followed by symptoms; i.e., pain. Well, yes, I was definitely inthe pain category!After pressing on various locations on my leg, ankle and hip he nearly had toscrape me from the ceiling where I rocketed to from the pain. He deduced that Ihad obstructed circulation. Basically a narrowing of the all important arteriesand veins was causing poor circulation and the pain was symptomatic of that.Always curious I asked, “What are the principal causes of these narrowedarteries?” He replied, “Well genetics is #1, followed by a couple otherpotential causes.” I leaned forward, “what’s #2?” He answered, “Stress.” Ididn’t feel any need to ask about #3; the conversation turned another directionfrom there.He warned me that one treatment wouldn’t be viable. I would need to commit to atleast 3 treatments, to which I readily agreed. He inserted several needles andimmediately I felt relief. He chattered about the different treatments—painrelief or symptom cure—listed on his intake form. Not being an acupuncturespecialist, I had checked the box stating, “Whichever the doctor recommends” so weagreed on both pain relief and addressing and curing the cause of the blockage(s).One day later as I luxuriated in all the TV coverage of the inauguration of our44th United States’ President, it dawned on me. Of course! We, in the UnitedStates of America were in pain of one sort or another—lost job, foreclosed home,inability to afford health care, failure to sell our homes, battered investmentportfolios, general depression or dismay at our downward slide as a nation on somany fronts.We had managed to obstruct the healthy circulation of money in our banking systemsand on Wall Street. We had also managed to obstruct the healthy circulation oftruth and honor in our government such that we were as a nation suffering fromVERY poor circulation indeed. Our collective organs were suffering and ourmuscles weakened.The powerful Wall Street executives had blocked the flow of capital; lies hadobstructed and narrowed the flow of truth, such that we were plenty diseased, andplenty pained. No longer is that pain reserved primarily for ENRON, WorldCom,Lucent or Lehman employees. I hearken back to April 13, 1958 when Harry Trumanstated in the Observer, “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s adepression when you lose yours.” Ouch! Indeed our nation and many of her peopleare pained amidst disease; the perfect storm of the confluence of our financial,regulatory and government impotency and failures.Yet on this day, this 20th day of January, we gathered together—amidst our pain—inspirit and flesh to witness the swearing in of Barack Obama, the people’spresident.Over a million (maybe 2) people—some famous, most commoners--somehow plannedahead, fought traffic and security check points, and reassured their bodies oftheir warmth amidst freezing cold temperatures, to attend. No, they weren’tcrazy; they were committed. They exchanged emails and texts and formed communityin a few short hours.
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