Just a reminder that we are all on the same team and why.

[redstatebluegirl]

This morning I had to stop by the pharmacy to pick up a prescription to help me sleep, (no two days away from DU and the news did not help that problem). While I was there a young woman in her 20's with two young children, one in a stroller and one on her hip was waiting for a prescription. The pharmacist came back and told her that the medicine for her daughter would cost $120. She broke into tears. I walked up, whispered in her ear that I would take care of it and handed the pharmacist my card. She told me her name was Jenna and she had lost her job 2 weeks ago and did not have the money for the COBRA insurance. She apologized for "being a problem", I told her I would have come unglued if it were my child. I hugged her, she took her meds and left.

What really burned my ass was the guy behind me in line who told me I should not have "encouraged her to be a deadbeat". I totally lost it, I went after him, he actually backed up away from me and he was twice my size. He left the line and went to another part of the store. I am lucky I'm not in jail, I would have gone with pleasure to for the pleasure of bothering that big, stupid asshole. He was such a little snowflake .

This is why we are Democrats, this is why we are different than they are. We are compassionate, caring people who understand that we are all one or two paychecks away from being in Jenna's position. We have empathy, we understand poverty, we want to stop it. We don't want Jenna to ever have to worry about getting medicine for her sick child.

ANY Democrat is better than ANY Republican, but we have to win this time, losing is not an option. We have to vote, we have to drag our friends to vote, we have to make sure everyone is registered and have checked their registration to make sure they did not get caught in one of the GOP's many acts of voter suppression.

Please remember this young woman when you are giving money to candidates, working for the party or just posting on DU. Our small disagreements are nothing compared to what she is going through and all of the others like her.

[TEB]

1. Beautiful friend

[redstatebluegirl]

5. Thank you, I honestly didn't post it to say I was a good person, I posted to remind us why we are

here. I did what I could do, so many people are in pain right now. Financially, mentally so many ways. Thank you Mom for teaching us to be good when we can be.

[lunatica]

32. Thanks for the reminder!

When I was still working in Berkeley there were always the same 3 or 4 homeless people at the stop lights on my way home. They were older so it was obvious no one would ever hire them. I always gave them two dollars every single day. I knew their names and they knew mine. I gave them blankets and clothes too. I did it for years. Their faces would light up when they saw me. I always felt that they felt recognized and were more grateful for that than the money. When you’re homeless and old no one looks at you. It’s heartbreaking.

[lpbk2713]

37. You and RSBG make DU a great place. I love it.

Thank you.

[lunatica]

42. It takes a village to ameliorate human suffering

It just takes a little from each person to make a huge difference. That’s the whole idea behind paying taxes. Republicans won’t help the needy and it isn’t their money. It’s ours. Everyone should be benefitting.

[cilla4progress]

2. Oh my, redstate -

you are a SHERO to me! I did something similar once, but it was only $15.... An elderly woman was struggling with how to pay for all her medications. I can't stand this!

THANK YOU, you are truly beautiful!!!

[redstatebluegirl]

4. Thank you, I did what I think my Mom would have done.

She is the one who taught me how important it is to be kind and do what we can to help when we can. My husband may give me a hard time about the money, but he is a big softy, he will understand why I did it. My Mom was one of a kind, this was done to honor her memory.

[cilla4progress]

6. Just

beautiful.

Hearts indeed. ...

[GeoWilliam750]

43. And you did honor her memory

[safeinOhio]

3. The Republican Party has given us a gift.

The are the perfect example for us to know how not to act. If I’m stumped on what to do, I think what would a republican do and then do the opposite. I want to thank the Donald for saving me from becoming an asshole.

[coti]

7. The idea that a child would EVER go without a needed medication in our rich society...

That man was a genuine piece of shit. One has to think that he didn't actually consider what he was saying.

[redstatebluegirl]

12. I think he knew exactly what he was saying. He had so much hate in his facial expression.

It is terrifying how many of them are out there and have been let out from under their rocks by the current orange menace in chief.

[Bettie]

31. There was a time when he'd have had to hold his tongue

and just be polite.

That time is gone...some day they are going to want to put that hate and ugliness back under a nice mask.

We can't forget who they are. Ever.

You did a kind thing.

[bluestarone]

8. Just have to give you a hat tip!! WOW YOU made a difference that day!!! TY!

[redstatebluegirl]

13. Thank you so much, please remember Jenna and her kids as we work to take our country back.

[jimlup]

9. Thank you!

I would hope that if I had the means I would do the same.

[redstatebluegirl]

14. I feel blessed, I am not wealthy by any means, but we both are working and can help sometimes.

Not as much as I would like but we try.

[hamsterjill]

10. First, thank you.

I know you're not looking for thanks, but please accept a thank you from me because, while I'm older now and better established, I've been that young woman in the past. So - thank you for stepping up and helping her.

Secondly, you are so correct in that we must stick together AND that we are different. I live in red state Texas and I increasingly find that Republicans, young and old, rich and poor, have absolutely NO empathy for anyone else. Whatever troubles another human being may have is always the fault of that person in some way. Republicans are either incapable or unwilling (mostly the latter, I believe) to accept that bad things can actually happen to good people...until, of course, something happens to they themselves.

We are different, and I am grateful to be among the ones who have the compassion and the enlightenment.

[redstatebluegirl]

11. Yes, I feel that there are people outside our party who are trying very hard to divide us.

We have to take time now and then to remind all of us, why we are different, why we continue to fight. I live in Oklahoma, it is as red as it gets and full of some really frightening republicans. Many of them are poor which slays me.

We have to keep fighting!

[DFW]

15. Reminds me of something that happened last summer.

First off, good for you for just being HUMAN, unlike the simian behind you.

My wife was in a small store while we were in the States last summer. The electronics in their credit card machine had broken down, and they could only take cash. My wife and I both HATE credit cards, having seen here how vulnerable a society becomes when it depends wholly on electronics and computers to control everything. A woman in front of her wanted to buy some formula for her baby for $5 and had only a credit card. Not even $5 in cash. Thoroughly Modern Millie in the flesh. It was a Sunday on Cape Cod, and banks are not every ten feet like they are in a city. She started panicking, and my wife, whose English is not perfect, but certainly enough to have understood what was going on, paid the $5 for the woman who thanked her profusely. No one else even spoke up, though. Far less encouraging than your story!

[redstatebluegirl]

16. We all have to step up and help when we can.

It amazes me how many people of means will not lift a finger to help. Good for your wife, she is one of us!

[DFW]

17. As a German, she sometimes sees things

Things that we are too close to objectively observe from a distance.

[lpbk2713]

18. I like the way you handled that asshole.

I don't always engage assholes like that for fear I might get
out of control and that would make them win in the end.

[redstatebluegirl]

23. Me either, but he hit a nerve.

[Different Drummer]

19. Well done, RSBG!

[mwooldri]

20. If this was the UK it would never have been an issue.

Parents pay £0 for children's medications. Seniors pay £0. Only time one pays for medication in the UK is if you're working in England and then it's about $15 or less per script and if one needs a lot of medications a certificate can be bought to prepay for them all for a year - about $150. The other time one pays for medication in the UK is when it's not on the NHS formulary (think rare and ultra expensive cancer drugs).

The Trump Party's medical plan is vaporware... i.e. non existent... Or the "hurry up and die" plan. We have too many people in the USA who believe healthcare is a privilege and not a right - yet are perfectly OK with saying that they have a right to a weapon of war. Boggles my mind.

Thank you for what you did... I wish I had a spare $120 at times... But still I wholeheartedly agree that kids shouldn't go without their meds.

[Kurt V.]

21. i just gotta say...

[DIVINEprividence]

22. Listening to Bernie Sanders Democrats are the enemy

He rails against the “establishment” allowed his own ego to fatally wound our general election nominee. His anti trade nonsense has only served to fuel racism and anti immigrant sentiment. Is Bernie running against Trump or the Democratic Party?

[demmiblue]

28. Shoo. n/t

[lunatica]

35. So you post about Bernie on a thread that has nothing to do with him?

Sure. OK.

[lunasun]

52. Yes there are a lot who do not want to provide healthcare for all They see Sanders and Warren

as the biggest enemy because of M4A .
All our candidates are concerned about healthcare and have plans to better the situation, although in different ways, so that is why repugs
see all of them as "the enemy"

Good point that someone like the women with insurance gone and now no money for cobra, who sees how fast this can turn on her,
even if she is a trumper she will listen to dems this year who have made healthcare an issue to highlight

I think even more so if ACA goes back to SC this year since congress has repealed the individual mandate and is being challenged once again in courts since that would be one less option for her family
And if she is near poverty repugs are wishing to cut medicaid too

[shadowmayor]

24. Health Care in America

Is a criminal enterprise.

[TNNurse]

25. Thank you for being there for her.

In contrast, I am on Medicare. I picked up a prescription for one of my blood pressure meds today. I take it twice a day and it is a 3 month supply. That is 180 pills...for $8.40. It is not a new medicine and is generic but still. I was surprised it was so little.

I wish we knew what medicine that was. This is absurd, this should be illegal. It is certainly immoral.

[redstatebluegirl]

27. It was some type of antibiotic.

[TNNurse]

29. There is no excuse for it to cost that much.

Criminals in business and government are destroying the moral fiber of this country. They are cruel and are causing pain and suffering.

[redstatebluegirl]

30. I agree, I got the idea that this was the first time she had needed any drugs since she lost her job

and her insurance. The medical establishment is making a killing off of all of us, but especially the poor and unemployed.

[questionseverything]

47. thats why we need medicaid expanded

until m4a

[BeckyDem]

26. Beautiful is what you are!

[redstatebluegirl]

38. Thank you. So was Jenna and her beautiful kids.

[BeckyDem]

41. No doubt in my mind about that!

[H2O Man]

33. Recommended.

Way recommended, in fact.

You have made my day. And because today has been a particularly difficult day for me, I appreciate it very much. Thank you!

[democrank]

34. That decision you made at the pharmacy will give and give and give.....

Thank you for this lovely example of human kindness.

[redstatebluegirl]

39. I hope so.

[Caliman73]

36. Well said and well done!

The common thread that unites liberals/progressives and moderates in the Democratic Party is that we all understand that life is about options and choices, and that sometimes the options are horrible. We can sympathize and empathize with people even if we don't know them and even if we have not experienced what they are going through. We care about the suffering of others and we are willing to share of ourselves through personal charity and through taxes.

Now there are Republicans out there who are generous and caring too. The major difference that I have seen in my experience is that while they will give through charity, and they care about people they know, they can walk by a disabled person begging on the street and like that dumb oaf in the pharmacy, they will think that person is a deadbeat.

When I don't have anything to give to people I see on the street, I at least stop, look them in the eye and tell them that I am sorry I have nothing, try to direct them to some resources, and tell them that I hope things turn around for them soon. I want them to know I care even if I can't give them anything tangible at that moment.

[redstatebluegirl]

40. Thank you, now if I could stop worrying about her

that would be good.

[GeoWilliam750]

44. Thank you

Just

Thank you

[live love laugh]

45. What a lovely message ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[SamKnause]

46. Thank you.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

48. Thank you!

Thank you for that entire message. We need reminding of who we're fighting for -- all of us together.

We *all* need FEMS: Food, Education, Medical care, Shelter.

[colsohlibgal]

49. This Time More Than Ever

No time for splitting hairs or grudges. Like most I like some candidates better than others. But....I will vote for the Democratic Nominee whoever it is. All of them are infinitely better than the stupid would be dictator now squatting in The White House.

We need to thoroughly beat him but my guess is even then he’ll cry foul and may have to be dragged from Office.

[Wounded Bear]

50. COBRA is effectively useless for most people...

the first time I was laid off I was shocked by COBRA rates. My unemployment wouldn't have covered it and left any money for rent and food, and I had a decent job.

Bless you for your generosity.

[Squinch]

51. I just LOVE you!