The inauguration of Pres. Obama: A new era of responsibility - aleinu

In his inaugural speech, the President called on us to "begin again the work of remaking America." He later commented,

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

I've been giving my all to this difficult task, as have many readers. Now, in our healthcare and patient safety realm, there is both an encouraging early sign and a special sense of urgency.

Encouragingly, in the economic stimulus package, the version being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives includes $20 billion for health information technology. The President has called for making electronic medical records widely available to make our healthcare safer and less expensive.

Sen. Teddy Kennedy experienced a seizure during his lunch with Pres. Obama. Kennedy is terminally ill with brain cancer, and he has focused the rest of his life on achieving national health insurance. This underlines our sense of urgency: the time is now. As Rabbi Hillel said, "If not now, when?"

Indeed, many Jewish services end with the song Aleinu ("it is our duty," or literally, "it’s on us"). We can make that our personal closing benediction to the inauguration of our Community Organizer in Chief.

Advice: Host a house meeting on health care reform, and summarize the story for www.change.gov

Read another story from a speech by Barack Obama.

Cancer is not a football game: Teddy Kennedy's brain cancer

The mantra of "fighting" cancer drives me nuts. The caring behind it is wonderful; the metaphor is not. Cancer is not a football game. The fighting metaphor is insidious because it implies that if you fight, you can "win." And if you don't fight hard enough, you are therefore a "loser."

The challenge for Teddy Kennedy, just diagnosed with brain cancer, is to figure out where the locus of our limited control lies. He can't change the fact of his diagnosis. But he can, and already has, chosen his doctors wisely. He is putting his resources now, appropriately, into learning about his cancer, what drives it, and what might slow it down. He may have to choose additional doctors, anywhere in the world. That's great. That's the stuff that really is under his control. As is choosing how to spend his time and energy. He is already doing all the right things.

So, I would change the mantra to "Breathe, Ted, breathe." Sail your boat. Kiss your wife and your kids. Trust your doctors. Keep doing the work you love.

Advice to cancer patients: Focus, like Teddy, on what is within your control.

Read last week’s post on Teddy.

Thanks to Judy Foreman for the source article in the May 27 issue of the Boston Globe.

Teddy Kennedy

A well-to-do man, Senator Edward Kennedy has long stood up for the underdog.

In response to the grim news this week of his terminal brain cancer, Sen. Kennedy has reached out to his family, and has even gone sailing near his beloved Cape Cod.

He lives his values, and fights for them. He consistently works with political opponents to find common ground, on immigration and education reform, to cite just two recent examples.

I hope that having fought hardest to expand healthcare over the years, that now, with the possibility of a Democratic president and Congress, he will live to see the passage of a universal healthcare bill in the next Congress.

For Jewish friends, who are encouraged to pray for an ailing person's health with the person's Hebrew name, I suggest as a Hebrew name, Thaddeus ben Shoshana (Ted, son of Rose).

Advice to people with terminal illnesses: Live your life with as much of Teddy's passion and humor as you can.

Read a story of zestful living in the “bonus round.”