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When late last month U.S. Senator John McCain was asked by a woman at a Springerville, Arizona, town hall meeting what he was doing about getting Mohave County, Arizona, added to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (or RECA, a 1990 law that compensates radiation victims of U.S. nuclear weapons activities including fallout victims called "downwinders'), his answer: "We are still doing everything we can to see that happens" - must have sounded to those in the audience like a hollow assurance. It sure did to me. The group Mohave Downwinders, led by Eleanore Fanire until her passing last November, and that group's allies, had feverishly lamented the cold shoulder given to them by their longtime Senator, Mr. McCain. But it must be April Fools day all this month because McCain actually followed through on his word and formally stated on April 28th his intention in a press release to introduce legislation to add Mohave County "to the list for counties eligible for downwinder compensation under RECA."
McCain's press release uses emotionality (remorsefulness) and determination, both of which must be causing a little subterranean turning by the late Fanire: 'Astonishingly,' the press release notes,' despite its close proximity to the Nevada Test Site, the Act does not list Mohave County proper as an affected area.' McCain chimes in: 'The people of Mohave County deserve to see righted this unjust policy which has obstructed their ability to qualify for compensation. I'm hopeful this bill will help close a painful chapter for those Arizonans who were arguably the most affected by nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War.'
I simply cannot refrain from screaming out: Where the hell was Senator McCain when Divine Strake was bubbling over? Where was he when Eleanore Fanire was wearing down the keys on her phone year in and year out trying to get southern Mohave County included in RECA? And where were the Senators and Congresspersons behind the latest "Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2010" when the Strake was about to grill us, making us lightly crusted on the outside and medium-rare internally with its beta and alpha radiation?
They were not there for us when we needed them and then, (using a phrase from my recent diary entry) 'without any recent significant prodding by downwinder groups or new revelations from fallout studies, somehow, and apparently without explanation,' they all have now come to the fore with their revelations of compassion and astonishment and wish to help us close this sad chapter!? I'm not buying this crap. And neither should you. It is the same old, same old tactic that is used by politicians and businesspersons and those laboring in a score of other professions to appear on the scene of a misfortunate circumstance - that will end up paying in financial or political benefits (shhh) - and flamboyantly lend their hand.
It is tempting to want to curse these politicians and their bills and motions and amendments. But that would be shooting ourselves in the feet. We need to see the ugly truth that there are entities in this world that do good but also have their motives - they do good when they have something to gain. The second part of that ugly truth is that their warped philosophy keeps them from truly helping the entire cause they profess to champion. When one lusts for the bottom line of financial windfalls or political benefits, compassion always falls by the wayside. Only a lust for the bottom line of compassion itself will not leave any soul un-nurtured. Only a philosophy that has compassion as the means and the ends will not omit any significant portion of a populace that needs your help, as these RECA legislations fail to do. That is the ethos - the star - that we need to hitch our wagon to. And while people and politicians and organizations will be out there for time eternal sending out press releases about how they're doing good in this world for a fraction of the suffering, what do we do about it? Well, it is best to not stand in their way - if they are not hurting anyone. We must push ourselves to do good for all of those suffering in our realms of compassion and do what we do regardless of the price or benefits that befalls us.
To relate this to downwinders in general, the realm of my compassion, we need to stop thinking that any RECA bill will close a sad chapter in our history for good. We need to begin thinking rather that we are just beginning the process of closing that chapter. It is a long, hard, difficult and very, very painful process to close that chapter and all the RECA bills in the works during this Congress are an insult, yes insult, to those downwinders who won't be covered whether it is because they live in Wyoming or Canada, or suffer from radiation-linked immunological disorders, or their children are suffering from early cancer that was caused by their parents' genetic damage, or they lived in the right place at the wrong (and unfairly omitted) timeframe. I will not be distracted by the actions of half-assed humanitarians and their attempts to help downwinders in their half-assed ways. And neither should any of us. The change we want to see in the world must be the result of our own actions; for if we sit idle, the opportunists out there, when they do find an angle, will bungle the good work we aim to do. The only alternative is to proactively work towards good using the seeds of our own compassion.
