Later on, when a goodly number of our friends achieved a certain level of affluence, and credit became easier to obtain, they started to move away to newer homes and distant suburbs.
We remained here, not because we had to, but because we wanted to. Naysayers and fear mongers would have had Lakewood going down the tubes, way back in the '60's. Thanks to the herculean efforts of many people, Lakewood has continued to be an attractive city to live in.
Of course, as with anywhere else in the world, issues always arise that challenge the comfortable present with an unknown future. Sometimes, those issue questions bring forth good things, and sometimes, not. That's just the way life goes.
As we are all aware, the latest Lakewood issue in play has been the question of our hospital.
Quite a few people, including my family, believed that we have seen this hospital crisis coming for a long time. Even those of us who have supported our hospital understand that the way health care is changing today, it would not be reality to expect that a single health care provider should provide duplicate services in multiple hospitals, located just a few miles from each other. This train's been coming for some time now. This just happened to be the year that our community leadership decided to face the problem head on.
Contrary to the opinions of some, I do believe that our present community leadership group was probably boxed in to making the decision that they made. It is my strong belief that normally good, decent, people were forced into this decision by circumstances beyond their control. As such, they may likely attempt to disclaim personal responsibility for outcomes arising from their decision. Quite possibly too, they will be correct.
I cannot, and will not vilify or judge them for the decision they felt that they had to make as our representatives, but it is an even stronger belief on my part that THAT decision, and the process by which it was made, could well now destroy the fragile fabric of whatever positive municipal dynamic that we may have left here in Lakewood.
We need, quite frankly, to address that dynamic going forward, no matter how the hospital thing eventually ends up. We also very MUCH need to be proactive with Lakewood's quality-of-life issues, regardless of what future scenario comes along.
Our municipal government will now have much fence-mending to do with Lakewood's citizens. Whether or not they can repair the tremendous disconnect that was put in play the other night will be the question of our time, and one that may well determine whether or not the heart of Lakewood will ever recover.
Unfortunately, one way or another, a message has been sent, loud and clear, that, as a place to live, Lakewood may not look quite as attractive as it once did.
In figuring out how I wanted to respond to what has just been decided regarding our hospital, I will frankly admit to having had a very difficult time dealing with what has transpired.
For people of faith, many people, including myself, believe that while we retain our natural "human" reactions, we also have been given a "supernatural" God-given relationship based on God's Love.
Now that "human" side of me wanted to put up a for-sale sign and move away from here- sooner than later, shaking the dust from my feet; as the Bible states that one should do when there seems nothing left to be done in a community that may well deserve to be abandoned by God.
Another "human" reaction for me was to want to dramatically destroy my iconic "Lakewood Observer Banjo" in some public location, as a final rejection of all things positive that my family and I have tried to do for this city.
As a songwriter, yet another gut-level response that I had was to pen some ironic and nasty Christmas Carol parodies, but it's really not the time to sing, is it? Nor do I feel right about responding to negativity with even more negativity, especially during this time of year.
Is there really a moral high ground left here for any of us in Lakewood? Lakewood's hospital closing advocates will indeed no doubt try to disclaim any personal responsibility for consequences relating to the closing of the hospital, but the fact remains that all of us indeed will likely be so much LESS safe in Lakewood when our hospital is gone, and not so much DIRECTLY because it is gone, but rather INDIRECTLY.
Here's why: When an ambulance arrives at your home these days, it already carries much of what is needed to save your life. The direct connection with a hospital and an ambulance by computer will, in all likelihood, be sufficient to take care of your immediate medical problem, no matter how far away a hospital happens to be. The REAL problem, and the one that I have not yet seen discussed very much, will be simply this one:
Response time.
When saddled with multiple runs out-of-town to hospitals in other communities, it will simply take LONGER for our first medical responders to arrive at your door, and THAT will likely be where the potential life-or-death situations will arise, BIG time...
...for ALL of us.
Anyone who voted to close our hospital, anyone who supported the closing of our hospital, needs to know that, in countless life-or-death situations in Lakewood from now on...
...death can happen by DELAY....many times, over and over. Just having one less hospital in our area could also exacerbate that issue exponentially.
At what price indeed can anyone purchase the moral high ground here, much less a purchase a clear conscience; particularly, when the direct effect of one's actions could well have potentially disastrous and fatal consequences in perpetuity?
No, upon reflection I really need to rise beyond those "human" responses to something higher, especially today.
Specifically, I do not plan to move, nor do I plan to smash up the Lakewood Observer banjo. Nor do I plan to blame anyone personally, or for that matter, do I plan to be negative to anyone. That's just not the way I can be anymore.
To each, their own conscience here. We all have to live with ourselves in this life.
I will rather, with God's help, try to remain positive. Lakewood will need all the positive it can get in the coming year. We still have a VERY good city. There are many other good places to live that are much farther from medical care than the citizens of Lakewood will ever be; even in a worst-case closed-hospital scenario. They survive. We shall too, hopefully.
What we will need to work for, now and always, is to continue to SUPPORT our municipal police, fire, and medical response units, perhaps even looking at EXPANDING the number of medical vehicles available. We need to do whatever we can to have rapid-response emergency medical help for all of us close by, at all times.
Finally, in the spirit of Christmas, please understand here that I would never claim to always be right, nor to be "holier than thou". I mess up in life just as much as anyone else. I fall short every day, and I may be wrong here in some particulars, but one place that I cannot fall would be now:
One just needs to speak up when circumstances call for it. Particularly when they call for all of us trying to rise above the present, so that we can claim the future
Our city's future is indeed at stake, but more importantly, lives are at stake here; ALL of our lives, in fact.
Now, it's Christmas time.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to those who observe non-Christian traditions.
In that spirit, why not at least start a healing process by reflecting on this ancient expression:
"Facienti Quod In Se Est Deus Non Denegat Gratiam", which is to mean:
God does not deny grace to those who do what good they can.
Back to the banjo...
