Supposedly, people's brains develop by 25. Mine has about two years to go. I hope that the part of my brain that comprehends insurance is the part that hasn't developed yet, such that one day, when I'm 25, I'll wake up, and it will all make perfect sense — like Gödel's theorem or rocket science.

I do need healthcare now, and unfortunately, I expect it will take a number of years before my peers succeed in their revolution. It's awfully confusing. I don't understand how anyone thought it made a lick of sense for healthcare to be based within a single state when people commute from one to the other. Or, why anyone thinks it's acceptable that the people who work multiple part-time jobs are often the ones who pay the most for care. These companies have brilliant people who determine what is covered and what isn't, so that the company might make the most money — and so, the things that are covered and not covered can blossom into a game of Go.

Convolution is great. I love Mobius strips. But I don't love it when the paperwork for a heart attack is shaped like one.

Perhaps corrupt things are not meant to be accepted or fully understood. Perhaps the part of my brain made for the US healthcare system will never develop, and I'll continue to flop around like an idiot fish within it. Hopefully, no part of my brain was ever made for insurance.

One injustice is the expense of healthcare. Another injustice is the inequality of that expense. These problems are what people tend to discuss. But a third injustice is time; everyone must spend a portion of their life understanding and working within a system as convoluted as Escher's best. It's a hydra that exponentiates its heads for people who struggle to pay its passing fee.

If I'm honest about it, the US healthcare system represents the epitome of an unethical, uncurious, and complacent adulthood in my subconscious. I fear the day I comprehend it.

On that day, I'd almost definitely be dead.

Rowen Veratome (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist with an unseemly love of paradoxes, chocolate, and language that challenges how objects are perceived. If you'd like to keep up with their ongoing work, you can sign up to receive a monthly reflection here.