GRACIAS, SENATOR GOODWIN

A very large tip of the hat to newly appointed Senator Carte Goodwin, for adding the deciding vote that will allow millions of suffering, long-term unemployed, some tiny breathing space--if only till November.

I can't help but wonder what the final toll over this "fiscal bump" will end up being: how many suicides? How many attempted murders? Robberies? Assaults? What will the cost be for medical conditions exacerbated by the stress? Blood pressure numbers soaring; heart attacks sky-rocketing; strokes or people simply "giving up"? How will these statistics affect the general deficit, in the long run? (Let alone the loss to the individual families and the economic impact on their failing health care providers?)

When Congress screams about the people being on the side of reduced deficits, I wonder how many of those "people"--including the politicians themselves--even stop to consider the factors that extend beyond immediate tax funds? I wonder if any psychologists or sociologists are beginning to track the more far-flung issues? And what is the impact on the spiritual trauma of the masses? I know, up close and personal, the cost in simple donations to worthy causes; to lost funding sources and fewer grants offered to needy organizations. But what impact is all of this so-called "recession" ( I still say it is really another Depression...) on the spiritual lives of the people, long term?

In my hometown in Massachusetts, all the Catholic churches are hunkering down, as the Diocese decides to close them and sell off the properties...even such churches as Sacred Heart, where my family has attended, been baptized in, become wedded and waked in, for generations--even though Sacred Heart Parish is one of the few that meets its bottom line in paying for itself, via congregational offerings. My parents and extended family are left feeling bitter, bereft, and once again, out of control, as the "higher ups" in the Diocese (Bishops, etc.) make the decisions; more or less deaf to what parishioners beg for. Our Federal government, as much as it seeks to be separate from religious organizations, sure seems to be emulating the Catholic Church's management strategies in these tough economic times.

I hear friends tell that their synagogues require payment if a family is to be seated during the High Holy Days! I haven't, yet, inquired what is happening at the mosques--but I will, soon. All around us, even as people are crying out in fear, hopelessness, depression--and seek comfort in the places they've been taught to seek comfort in--places of community and worship and prayer and positive measures--those community centers, gathering places and houses of Light are shutting their doors. Locking them up tight. Or selling them off to the highest developers.

Well, I guess that's why the line at Starbucks is so long...(at least now, I can afford a morning cup of coffee, until November...)