They are All of Us

On Monday, December 14th, at around 1:30 p.m. there was a bang on my door. "Danny's having a seizure!" My blood ran cold, and I was in my son's room before I felt the ground. I watched helplessly as his body jerked and he gasped irregularly for breath. A nightmare turned real life. We dialed 911. Calmly the operator said that an ambulance was on the way. Seemingly within seconds, they were there. Pumping the necessary medicine into his veins and rushing him to care at the hospital. Inside I'm all adrenaline and fuzzy and please, please let him be alright. He gets checked out, he is safe, no, we don't know why, but here's some new medicine. Peace and calm for a few days.

On Friday we do this entire scenario again.

We are devastated. I decide to quit my job. I hold this child and beg for mercy. He is okay. He can go home. He is doing much better. We are lucky. As I reflect on this experience, all I can think about is how we are so very, incredibly lucky.

We live in a community with an incredibly responsive and professional fire department, police, ambulance service, and 911 dispatch. Within minutes, competent, life saving professionals came to my home and saved my son.

Danny does require special care to meet his needs, but that is not particularly relevant. He is all of our children.

Which brings me to my point: Somebody's daughter is desperate to get mental health services and they are not getting it. Somebody's son is languishing on an 8-year waiting list for services and they are not getting it. Somebody's child needs more attention at school and they are not getting it.

They are all of our children, and many in our elected body are choosing for them to not get the help they need and deserve.

I say this is a moral issue. I say we choose elected officials that love all of our children as much as we do. We vote for people that support critical functions of our government and put children before a failed tax policy.

As a practical issue, we vote for officials that understand the complexities of our communities, that we frequently choose quality of life over low taxes, and above all, we put our children first.

Most Kansans understand this and yet our legislature and governor do not reflect the community oriented, child centered, common sense people I know us to be.

Register to vote in the primary in August. Vote. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Tell them to vote. Vote again in November.

We can change this.