Antidisestablishmentarianism is a word phenomenon that came into our consciousness in 1955, when a young girl correctly spelled it on a TV quiz show.

It refers to those who are opposed to those who want to get rid of an accepted or established institution.

Huh? If you’re against it, I’m for it and against you.

When my mental synapses somehow sparked that long word out of the blue, it led to thinking of how certain words, labels and phrases inform our lives. They can encapsulate, trap or enlighten. I’m sure you and I could make a chart with terms in one column and the effects on our lives in the next column.

If you were teaching between 1978 and 1983, under Schools Chancellor Frank Macchiarola, you were told to put Instructional Objectives (IO) on your lesson plans and on the blackboard. Remember those? So, IO in one column and how you reacted in the next column — obscenities permitted.

Take “radical” or “reformer.” As someone who fought for peace in Vietnam and for civil rights within the framework of institutions, the label “reformer” probably applies to me. Never a radical, I focused my efforts always on changing things from within.

When it comes to the New York City Medicare Advantage Plus Plan, I see myself as a reformer. My sympathies would be with the plan’s opponents if we were facing a disastrous policy change. But what if the established plan is good and the new plan builds on that solid foundation and is even better? As a reformer, I strive to work from within to bring about something that’s not only good but superior to what we already have.

So much information has by now been disseminated through meetings, webinars, town halls, email and regular mail that I hope members have evolved in their views about this new New York City Medicare Advantage Plus Plan. To reassure yourself if you have any doubts or to seek further information, I hope you will visit our dedicated webpage on Medicare Advantage. 

Also, we are now sending weekly NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan Updates via email that highlight particular parts of the new plan and provide more information about areas where our members have expressed repeated concerns.

You will have flexibility in trying out the new plan, thanks to your union pressing for it. While the opt-out period for the April 1 start date will end on March 31, there will be a continuing opt-out and opt-in period until June 30, 2022.

A decade after the 1950s quiz shows, another word entered the common parlance: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious — even though the sound of it is really quite atrocious.

Unlike the earlier word, this one is meaningless, frivolous and unthreatening — a retreat from the conscience-demanding tumult of the 1960s and perhaps a safe harbor for those tired of being challenged.

​There is an old labor song that rattles the frivolous and the comfortable: “Which side are you on?”

But there is one meaningful union word that keeps returning to my consciousness: solidarity.

There are times when we each want to hibernate to get away from the harsh dynamics of conflict. But long words or short, through days of quiet or union activism, being for the establishment or opposed to it, UFT solidarity reminds me: The challenges are what make the great world spin.