No Man is an Island

No Man is an Island

by John Donne

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 

~

Over these past few days I became fully aware that it does take a village and no man is an island. I was exposed to public support systems that needs revamping; I am an intelligent and educated person and I found the system to be cumbersome and slow and often times contradictory.

I can't even tell you the number of people who where trying to help since the call went out last Saturday for advice to help my granddaughter get her baby back. Of course if you are going to have a crisis perhaps the weekend isn't the best time to scheduled it. I will say this though that one call to Child Protective Services and within just a couple of hours, they had made a house visit to check on the baby and reported back that she was alright. A small relief in a very hectic day, but relief nonetheless.

Monday was a day filled with frustration upon frustration. Calls to family service agencies, messages left and un-returned . One group saying this; another group saying that. Tuesday morning I had hit my limit and I felt my own heath was beginning to be jeopardized. We would have to move away from the public system and seek private legal counsel.

By the time we sat down with an attorney, entered papers to the court and had the baby back in the arms of her mother four hours had elapsed. And probably a dozen people working and involved in this endeavor. An attorney, para-legals, clerks, a judge, a process server and county police officers.

It was an expensive solution in the end but health and well being are priceless as is peace of mind. Every human being is entitled to this, not just those who can afford it. We are as John Doone wrote - a part of the main.  We are collectively mankind, not unkind man.

Conservatives will state that government is too big, too ineffective and in most cases just too much and not needed. I will agree it can be cumbersome and slow and needs to be over-hauled but I don't agree that it should be done away with. If conservatives are going to work hard to save babies from abortion then they are going to have to work equally hard to protect and care for those babies after they are born if there is a need.

The African proverb - "It takes a village to raise a child" is so true, we as parents, grandparents and family don't do it alone. When we need help we reach out to others that can help us and we need to be there as well for others when they need our help. 

It does take a village and when you open the village door you see the people of the village: parents, families, doctors, lawyers, teachers, neighbors, law enforcement officials, politicians, clergy... and the list goes on and on.