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Mother Teresa and Benjamin Franklin on Healthcare
One of my passions is reforming healthcare and the medical industry. I support a system of limited, streamlined government — one that works from behind the scenes to keep the system working properly. In my concept of Salvation, politicians exist only to serve the citizens of their countries, states and municipalities, not to get rich off of the fruits of their labor. Part of that effort involves outlawing lobbyists and special interest groups, and removing the trappings of power that politicians all over the world enjoy today.
In Salvation Time Prime Ministers, Presidents, Senators, Congressmen and women and anyone else who holds public office pays for their own home, their own transportation and their own meals. So when I talk about a government assisting with healthcare, I’m talking about a very small, very limited one. To explain my ideas, in Step Two the soul of fictional Israel Prime Minister Eyal Grad discusses his innovations in medicine with two of the Advanced Souls – Mother Teresa and Benjamin Franklin:
“Now then,” Moses continued, “it’s time for a conversation about medicine. I call Mother Teresa and Benjamin Franklin to the stage.” In an instant, the two Advanced Souls appeared before their audience.
“Thank you Mr. Moses,” they humbly replied. “We would like to ask Eyal Grad to open up the dialogue by sharing with us the exceptional improvements he enacted in his own country with respect to healthcare and the medical profession. Mr. Grad?” The Prime Minister beamed. He was eager to inform his colleagues about Israel’s successful health care system.
“Thank you Mother Teresa, Mr. Franklin,” he began. “After my country’s isolation I decided we could no longer depend on other nations for medical advancement and innovation. We had to find a way to make healthcare and medicine cheap and effective, with a doctor-patient ratio of 20 to one. So my administration determined that our immediate goal, our most pressing job, was to produce 3,000 doctors per year. And I am proud to say we achieved our objectives.
“How did we do it?
“By using common sense and logic; by setting the system up to win, not fail. We realized that our job was to help aspiring doctors pass medical tests and earn their degrees with the understanding that yes, you do need a certain amount of intelligence to become a doctor but that the most important thing in medicine is the physical body. Every human being’s body does most of its own healing because the best doctor in the world is within. Every patient simply needs the right person in the form of a doctor to guide them on the path to healing and wellness. Someone accredited to advise them, ‘Hey listen, you need to do this; you need to take that.’ These doctors don’t have to be super-geniuses because the body heals itself.
“Today in Israel there’s a doctor living two-to-three houses or apartments away from every citizen. So if you have a medical question there’s always a medical professional nearby to ask. Drugs are also very inexpensive, with pills costing pennies as opposed to dollars. That’s because we’ve eliminated excessive and burdensome government regulations and fines that imposed millions of dollars on pharmaceutical companies before they could even bring a drug out of clinical trials and into the market. Yes, testing must be done to ensure safety and effectiveness. Clinical trials must be rigid and strong. Therefore our solution was to create a volunteer committee of retired doctors to provide oversight and input into the research and development of drugs. And although these doctors declined any kind of monetary reward for their time and expertise, we decided we’d compensate them anyway, in addition to featuring them on prominent television programs to express our gratitude and give them the recognition they deserve. We also eliminated the oppressive fines on pharmaceutical companies that made their products so expensive for the average consumer.”
“Wonderful, Mr. Grad!” Mother Teresa beamed. Then turning her attention to all of the New Souls, she reprimanded them, “I hope you are all listening carefully to Mr. Grad because he has laid the groundwork for a successful and humane medical system. All of you must do as he has done, especially with respect to the pharmaceutical industry. You demand that your governments get out of the pharmaceutical business and let them do what they need to do, which is to produce good drugs to help people heal. And stop with the greed!”
“If I may Mr. Grad,” Benjamin Franklin began, “who runs your Israeli hospitals?”
“Sir, our hospitals are mostly government-managed. But keep in mind our Israeli government is much more streamlined than ever before. It’s not an intrusive government seeking to control how much money everybody makes but a smart government that works from the bottom-up and administers from behind the scenes. Unlike what we’ve seen during most of the End Days, our politicians are nothing more than clerks that ensure everything is functioning properly. And as I mentioned, we reward the retired doctors who form our oversight committee with money and recognition simply because it’s the right thing to do.”
“My compliments sir,” Franklin replied earnestly. “I just have one other question. You know when I was in human form I always said, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ You’ve mentioned traditional medicine and pharmaceuticals but I’m wondering, do your Israeli doctors also practice what’s still frustratingly known on earth as ‘alternative’ therapies? By that I mean treatments that address the whole of a human being—physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological.”
“Mr. Franklin I am so glad you brought that up,” Grad enthused. “Yes, in Israel we very much promote and provide all sorts of healing modalities including hypnosis, past life regression, massage, acupuncture, Reiki, chiropractic, aromatherapy and just about all treatments not yet considered ‘traditional’ in most countries. We firmly believe in holistic healing because all of these therapies play a vital role in the overall wellness of human beings.”
Steps To Salvation is Published!
I am pleased to announce that after several years in the making, my novel Steps To Salvation is finally published in paperback format on Lulu.com and on Amazon.com!
Please visit my book page here to purchase or my Amazon page here.
Prefer e-book format? Click here. Kindle lover? Click here for Kindle version.
Part Two of my interview with American Journal
As promised, American Journal published the second part of my interview about the book. Visit American Journal to read the whole thing but here is a little taste:
DD: “No wonder so many critics have called your book a creative, compelling read! Inevitably though, it’s impossible to please everyone. You have a genuine regard for Sarah Palin, which is why you made her Secretary of State in the novel in the year 2412. Yet some of her most ardent supporters didn’t like the idea that she asks for advice from Nikola Tesla in Step Two. Can you explain?”
SA: “Yes. To me, Palin is a rare politician in what I call the End Days because she has a real desire to help everyday people. She also rejects the idea of a permanent political class exerting control over everyone. And her amazing record speaks for itself, although in the novel I am very specific about her many accomplishments. Nikola Tesla discusses them in Part Two when the souls of Palin and the eleven other world leaders who comprise the ‘Salvation Twelve’ end up in heaven after a terrorist attack. I don’t know why anyone would have a problem with that because I selected Palin thanks to her strong character and integrity. In the novel, Moses makes it very clear that God is very pleased with every member of the Salvation Twelve, which also includes the fictional Israeli Prime Minister, Eyal Grad. Palin is very supportive of Grad in the aftermath of Israel’s isolation and the two of them share a warm, cordial and professional relationship. At this point, Eyal Grad has been an innovator himself for Israel, implementing many commonsense policies that have created wealth for individuals, improved every citizen’s quality of life and stopped the jihad in their country. That’s why Grad leads the way to Salvation once the characters wake up from their comas and return to earth.
“I’ve always admired Nikola Tesla for being a man driven by his spiritual nature, not his animal nature. His contributions to making life better on earth must be acknowledged. It just made sense that he and Palin would talk about the future of energy in the afterlife. So I’m sorry if any of Sarah Palin’s supporters don’t like my characterization which is very positive.”
Thank you, American Journal.
It’s All Kosher in Salvation Time
Look for the kosher symbol everywhere in Salvation Time.
Chances are, most people have heard the term “kosher” whether Jewish or Gentile. However, it’s a safe bet that most Gentiles are unaware of what the term means and why kosher is good for everyone. So for those who don’t know, let’s first define kosher. From Judaism 101:
Kashrut is the body of Jewish law dealing with what foods we can and cannot eat and how those foods must be prepared and eaten. “Kashrut” comes from the Hebrew root Kaf-Shin-Reish, meaning fit, proper or correct. It is the same root as the more commonly known word “kosher,” which describes food that meets these standards. The word “kosher” can also be used, and often is used, to describe ritual objects that are made in accordance with Jewish law and are fit for ritual use.
Contrary to popular misconception, rabbis or other religious officials do not “bless” food to make it kosher. There are blessings that observant Jews recite over food before eating it, but these blessings have nothing to do with making the food kosher. Food can be kosher without a rabbi or priest ever becoming involved with it: the vegetables from your garden are undoubtedly kosher (as long as they don’t have any bugs, which are not kosher!). However, in our modern world of processed foods, it is difficult to know what ingredients are in your food and how they were processed, so it is helpful to have a rabbi examine the food and its processing and assure kosher consumers that the food is kosher. This certification process is discussed below.
Kosher dietary laws are observed all year round, not just during Pesach (Passover). There are additional dietary restrictions during Pesach, and many foods that are kosher for year-round use are not “kosher for Passover.” A bagel, for example, can be kosher for year-round use but is certainly not kosher for Passover! Foods that are kosher for Passover, however, are always kosher for year-round use.
There is no such thing as “kosher-style” food. Kosher is not a style of cooking. Chinese food can be kosher if it is prepared in accordance with Jewish law, and there are many fine kosher Chinese restaurants in Philadelphia and New York. Traditional Ashkenazic Jewish foods like knishes, bagels, blintzes, and matzah ball soup can all be non-kosher if not prepared in accordance with Jewish law. When a restaurant calls itself “kosher-style,” it usually means that the restaurant serves these traditional Jewish foods, and it almost invariably means that the food is not actually kosher.
Food that is not kosher is commonly referred to as treif (lit. torn, from the commandment not to eat animals that have been torn by other animals).
Please visit the site and follow the links for a thorough explanation. In Step One of my book, one of the students in Mr. Bauer’s history class explains the background and meaning of kosher in response to an exam question. The teacher observes that in Salvation Time, everyone now eats kosher and wants this particular student to explain why (you’ll understand when you read it — no spoilers here!). In Step Three as they travel the world, Mr. Bauer and his class discover this to be true when they visit many restaurants and enjoy plenty of authentic ethnic food in places like Egypt, Italy, Germany, France and the US — all kosher. This is a crucial part of bringing Salvation to earth, along with improvements and innovations to vital industries like energy, food and medicine.
As we get closer to publication, I welcome feedback from my readers!
Shlomo Attia 