Drive for Five: Beyond Ourselves

On this journey with Amyloidosis destroying kidneys, resulting in chemo and dialysis to fight off the collateral damage and an angel sharing her spare and saving my life? As a faithful man there’s a Bible verse serving as driving force.

The cranium zips to Hall of Fame football coach Bill McCartney. He likes to exhort, “Take it to the bank and hang your hat on it!” Here’s what I’m hanging my hat on. “Find joy in hope, patience in affliction and faith in prayer.”

The author was Paul, writing from prison, to early believers in Rome. Times were tough. There were a lot of Romans who weren’t buying the “Love and compassion” message learned from a Jewish carpenter. Folks were being tossed into an arena of lions, tigers and bears. Oh my. It’s gets even crazier, people would attend to enjoy the competition, like we do these days for sporting events. That’s really crazy.

As America moves forward from the 2024 election, a question. How can we collectively find a way to discover joy in hope, patience in affliction and faith in prayer, meditation, talking to a pet, lamp post or whatever inspires us to think of others, like our nation, before ourselves?

We are afflicted. This was an incredibly contested political season. Everyone’s complaining about the incessant political advertisements on television. As a veteran of the local television world this bombardment, mostly negative, of messaging is good for business. In a world of shrinking revenues, budgets and staffs, local news organizations financially benefit big-time from the insane money being poured into politics.

Our nation is afflicted with divisiveness. It ain’t good for anyone. Well, I take that back. I bark all the time when speaking and writing about "Drive for Five" 's efforts, “If you play the market, invest in the renal care business. It’s good and getting better.”

550,000 Americans hook up to a dialysis machine these days. It’s the last line of defense before, if blessed, someone share’s their spare like Cathie Hitchcock did for your scribe. Many will die on dialysis while praying for an organ that works properly. And it’s gonna get worse. Mainly because of America’s unhealthy lifestyle, high blood pressure, diabetes and excessive weight plague too many, especially in communities of color.

That terrible trio - hypertension, diabetes and obesity - is a great way to kill your kidneys.

Kidney disease afflicts us, partisan politics too and other major social issues like affordable housing, homelessness and inflation to name just three. There’s lots of affliction. How do Americans find hope the insanity might end? How to be patient with affliction?

How long will it take? A neighbor just popped by in need of a little baking soda. She’s making chocolate chips to try and brighten her mood. How do we have faith in America to rebound from this degrading and divisive time?

I’m just a simple dude from Missouri who was raised to love and respect this nation. My father and his three brothers - all now gone after Uncle Al’s recent passing - proudly served in the military. There was something more than themselves more important. Like duty to country, school, team or whatever. Since I can remember it’s been drilled into me: work hard, be a good teammate and persevere through the challenges. That’s a terrific trio most often successful.

It reflects what Drive for Five is about. Wake America to its growing kidney crisis. Inspire more folks to share their spare and educate others about the dangers of kidney disease. It’s effecting more and more Americans and costing taxpayers an incredible amount of money considering Medicaid and Medicare pretty much underwrite exorbitant end-stage renal costs.

This experiment in democracy is almost 250 years old. It’s time for us to have faith working together is the best pathway moving forward. We need to build a stronger cord to one another regardless of color, financial assets, political philosophy or geographic location.

On this Veterans Day, common sense must make a comeback. Whether it’s sensible legislation like the End Kidney Deaths Act or other worthy causes. The key is, collectively, finding a way to embrace hope, patience and faith in the future of America. There’s work to be done.