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Tim Sample is a Maine humorist, writer and illustrator.
A couple of years ago, a close family member had a sudden, life-threatening medical emergency. To say that it was a frightening and confusing experience for all concerned is an understatement. We felt extremely fortunate to be living in Portland, a five-minute ambulance ride from some of the best medical care in New England. Although it was touch and go for the first 36 hours or so, it’s no exaggeration to say that the compassionate and highly skilled staff at Maine Medical Center saved my family member’s life.
The months following her release from the hospital featured many complicated tests, screenings, diagnostics and follow-up office visits with a variety of medical specialists in an effort to ensure that the life-threatening event would not recur.
One physician in particular emerged as by far the most helpful of these specialists. He was a young, handsome, articulate, highly educated, deeply compassionate and empathetic doctor who, along with his wife and two young daughters, had emigrated to the U.S. from a Middle Eastern country.
Over the course of the next 18 months or so, we looked forward to office visits with “Dr. X” and came to rely on his ability to effectively navigate the often-confusing world of the U.S. health care system. We were therefore shocked and saddened to learn, during a follow-up visit last spring, that our favorite doctor would soon be leaving the practice.
Although disappointed, we were certainly not surprised. After all, it had been obvious to us from our first meeting that this young and gifted physician was on his way up. His next stop? Who knows. Maybe the Mayo Clinic or perhaps some other world-renowned top-tier medical facility.
When we visited the practice this past week for an appointment with our new physician, we were shocked to learn that “Dr. X” had in fact not moved on to a better position in this country. He had simply packed up his young family and moved back to the Middle East.
What? Why would he do that when he had such a bright future ahead of him here in the U.S.? The nurse practitioner checking us in gave us a terse one-word answer, as chilling as the word itself. “ICE,” she muttered.
Then I remembered an encounter with the doctor, his wife and their two lovely young daughters at an ice cream parlor in Portland last summer and recalled that the wife had been wearing the hajib, the traditional garment often worn by Muslim women. That’s when the scales finally fell from my eyes.
Why would a man like this, arguably among the best and the brightest in his chosen field, even consider raising his family in a country where armed gangs of government-funded thugs routinely harass, abduct and murder innocent civilians based solely on race, ethnicity, religion or country of origin with little or no oversight or genuine legal justification? Instead, he chose to take his chances in a Middle Eastern culture, which, let’s just say it, is not known for strong support of women’s rights.
So, where does Sen. Susan Collins come into this story? It’s clear to me that despite what I consider her tiresome and redundant “concerns,” Collins supports the Republican view that ICE is actually some sort of legitimate “law enforcement” agency that deserves billions of dollars of federal funding in order to continue its unchecked, lawless rampage both here in our beloved State of Maine and elsewhere across the country.
The bottom line? We can and must do better! I believe it’s time to retire Susan Collins and uphold the rule of law with strong Democratic leadership in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.