> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Dr. Edward Malphus: One flu shot dose may not be enough for infants during vaccine shortage
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/a-u-s-review-of-2003-next-year-harder-than-this-one-2/
- Published: 2003-12-30T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:37:08.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Downtown, #archive-import

The end of year is upon us and there are annual reviews being done from all things mundane to sublime. This has been a year of great successes, and great battles have been won. From the Supreme Court finally outlawing the outdated and unrealistic sodomy statutes, to the rather pathetic deposing of a cowardly old man. There also have been painful losses, but most significantly our dignity in the court of world respect. Yes, we captured a madman and it only cost us a measly few hundred billion dollars by the time it’s over, as well as the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of service personnel. But how long will it take for us to retrieve our tattered dignity and mend relationships with the other leaders of the world?

This was a year where many lives were destroyed by an elderly driver who lost control of his car in downtown Santa Monica. The ultimate outcome of that tragedy will not be felt for years, and there is no upside for anyone. It is a terrible event to have lost so many. There was the immediate hue and cry that all elderly drivers be tested or restricted. This was the usual overreaction that one can always expect. There was the noble establishment of a trust fund for the victims. This too was expected. There was minimal sympathy for the driver. For as the main actor in this tragedy, he is to be castigated, spurned by society and sent away as an evilness that we wish to no longer look upon.

But the truth is, we do not wish to look, because we are afraid of what we might see. We might see ourselves there one day. Elderly, feeble, facing the loss of our freedom, either from the denial of a driver’s license, or the loss of it after an accident. We do not want to face the fact that we are getting old, that the old man driving ahead of us could be, and likely will be, one day, us.

One man killed millions, intentionally. One man killed about a score, by all appearances unintentionally. I don’t know which is the greater tragedy. I also have to wonder why those Iraqis did not rise up, and depose their “leader.” Why were they so willing to let their country continue down the path it had been on? But then I wonder why so many are so willing to let our country continue on the path it is on.

The mass public decries the loss of jobs to overseas manufacturing, design, engineering and customer support, but the revenue figures for Wal-Mart are on a steady increase and IBM’s aren’t. That’s probably why they are opening an Indian service center. We cannot expect to continue to spend our money on cheaper products and expect to get paid a higher wage forever.

When we shop at Costco and buy those European bell peppers, the ones in the nifty six pack of green, yellow and red, we must realize that we are helping the economy of the Netherlands, which is where they are from. Granted, there is a broker in America who sold them to Costco and he will make a small fortune off the bells. And he will likely buy a new car with that money. If it is a Chrysler, that money then goes to Germany. If it is a Cadillac, it will be staying here.

At different times our country seems like the two men above, sometimes intentionally doing damage to itself, such as pursuing weapons of mass destruction where it seems they are not. At other times, we are oblivious to the damage we do by our rampant consumerism and rabid pursuit of the lowest possible price at any cost.

We are historically a country of good people. One that comes to the aid of the downtrodden in times of peril. We sometimes speak intolerantly, but in general we are a tolerant lot. Like any good family, there are battles amongst ourselves. This decade it’s the gay rights fight, in the ’70s it was women, and in the ’60s it was the black civil rights movement, but we tend to provide a united front to the rest of the world when the chips are down. Our leaders, well the Republican ones at least, seem to wax as poetic as a comic book, with their “axis of evil” and “evil doers,” but in the end, the world is a better place for our being here, doing the jobs that others do not, or will not, do.

When we strip away the frivolous events of this year, the celebrity scandals and the end of “Friends,” we are left with a tough year. A year in which we lost a shuttle and all the personnel aboard. We lost our sense of security in our food supply just last week with Mad Cow Disease finally rearing its ugly head on our soil. Yet with all that, it was a year in which many positive things happened. The economy is improving, though slowly. Cures to diseases were found, reforms to Medicare for our elderly were enacted, and we had a peaceful transition of state government by the will of the people according to the rule of law. That is a miracle.

Locally we saw that as a community, when an event such as the farmer’s market tragedy occurs, we can put aside our differences and come together. It was proof that whether we are white, black, straight, gay, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, or atheist, it does not matter to us because we are Americans first, and everything else second. 2004 is shaping up to be harder than 2003, for the battles are getting more personal, the stakes keep going up, but thankfully I live in America, a country that allows me to voice my opinion, especially when it doesn’t agree with the leadership. (David Pisarra is a partner in the Santa Monica law firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes questions, and (310) 664-9969 or e-mailed at).

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 30, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/123003.pdf?ref=smdp.com)