Saving truth

By JoAnne Young

Wait. Did I say that out loud? Or just think it? 

 

It’s the Homer Simpson syndrome, that thought in which I mentally thank people for the work they are doing or that piece they wrote or the beautiful art they created, but I don’t actually tell them about those thoughts. 

 

So visiting the Five Nine Shop and Project in Benson a couple of weeks ago, I came upon a set of six cards that say, “Thank You For The Work You Are Doing.” I bought them, brought them home and began planning. 

 

Even with cards, it’s not as easy as it might seem. There’s so much space taken up in my brain these days by things that irritate me, discourage me, make me mad. 

 

So much. 

 

No cards for those thankfully, or I might have been tempted to buy them, too.  

 

A lot has been said about the benefits to our psyches of keeping a daily gratitude journal. Honestly, I’ve taken more than a few runs at that, but never got past the second or third day. It’s not that I’m not grateful, I just need to develop the habit of saying it out loud or writing it.

 

It turns out there’s a little region in our heads, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a deep-seated region that connects us to gratitude. I dug around a few minutes in those thoughts and came up with more appreciation than I have cards for … maybe another trip to Omaha is in the offing. 

 

I’ll start with what’s going on in our state. 

 

I’d like to thank people for any truth telling they are doing. Truth hurts sometimes, but the lies we are getting from some politicians, candidates, political action committees, etc., cut deeper. 

 

Last week I appreciated listening to a bit of legislative debate/filibuster, by Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh, Megan Hunt, Jen Day, Danielle Conrad and Carol Blood. At one point, only a handful of senators were in the chamber, and Megan Hunt was reading a letter to senators from more than 150 health care providers about how doctors and other professionals can be trusted to give good information and care to parents with transgender kids. 

 

LB574, which regulates the type of care that transgender kids under 18 can receive, would block fundamental health care, including mental health care, in regard to their needs as transgender individuals, Hunt said, and would spill over to create a chilling effect on health care needs by the entire LGBTQ+ population. Trust is the cornerstone of the patient-provider relationship, and the bill takes away the ability to have honest dialogue about options, risks and benefits of care. 

 

The bill will do irreparable harm, they wrote, and is a dangerous overstep of government into the private lives of their constituents. 

 

Sen. Hunt responded that when a state passes such a law that restricts care, that tells doctors it doesn’t trust them to use their best judgement in providing a standard of care, it hurts everyone. It takes bricks out of Nebraska’s house of medicine. “All I ask is that we believe healthcare professionals, we believe our neighbors in Nebraska who are parents, who are educators, who are the professionals we trust to raise and be around our kids and help them develop.”

 

In further conversation on the floor last week, Sen.Blood explained why it is important for senators to do their due diligence … “because we represent all Nebraskans, not a particular party, not special interests, not dark money (well, some of us at least). And it is our jobs to craft policy that doesn’t do harm, that doesn’t have collateral damage.”

 

Truth. But the Republican agenda now trumps truth. 

 

The Nebraska Legislature is only one in a long list of states carrying out that agenda. Our beloved city of Lincoln is also the victim of truth slaying by Republican candidates and their supporters.  

 

Last month I visited the Mississippi Legislature and talked to a senator there who told me his assembly passed a similar transgender bill in February on a 33-15 vote. The judiciary chairman was quoted saying: “We don’t hate people. We want people to be well and healthy … But these are unnatural things taking place in our state.”

 

We have seen what happened to the Democratic Tennessee state representatives, Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, 

expelled this month from the Republican-led House there because they protested in support of more gun control following the school shooting in Nashville that killed six people. A white female representative who also protested was not expelled. The two Black Democrats were subsequently reappointed by their districts. Their exemplary speeches on YouTube are worth the watch. 

 

Clearly, my six ‘Thank You For the Work You Are Doing’ cards are not enough. I will find more and thank these committed and hardworking souls who stand in for me. As Sen. Hunt said last week, “we have so many opportunities to save democracy this session.”  

 

Stay with us throughout next month when we bring you five blogs of MAYhem as we each steer out of our comfort zones and bring our faithful readers along for the ride.

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