Health Care Bill, Senior Senator John Kerry, & My Sponsor

Today is Wednesday December Twenty Third Two Thousand Oh Nine. The Health Care bill has been a big news story for the last few weeks and it looks like Congress may pass it in the next day or two. I won't pretend to understand everything in the bill and I think it would take an expert to do so but I do know that it is a step in the right direction. Did either side get what they wanted ? Of course not, that would never happen in Washington. I don't understand why people get all awtwitter when things don't go exactly as they thought they would. This is Washington; a symbol of everything that is wrong and everything that is right with the United States Of America. Its a mixture of diplomacy and politics with two sides having to agree on the same thing. I agree with universal health care for two reasons. The first is that it is the right thing to do and I am a compassionate person. I have been very fortunate growing up and living with health care insurance for almost my entire life and it would really suck if I was to get sick and couldn't afford to go to the hospital. The second reason is that it has been my experience that stuff in generally cheaper when you pay up front rather than waiting for the bill to come. Uninsured people are going to sap the government for their treatment anyway so why not pay now rather than later. I am a realist who believes in welfare but also welfare reform

So because of all this hoopla surrounding the health care bill the senior senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry came to Children's Hospital Boston yesterday to talk about it. Word is that he traveled up from Washington to speak at CHB and then was due to return soon after. If that is true then I think thats pretty awesome. He walked about three feet from me on his way to the podium. He is pretty tall, good looking in an old man way, and a eloquent speaker. He read from a prepared speech praising us Massholes for seeing the value in our MassHealth program and how we were leading the nation and all sorts of ya ya sorta stuff. It was a good speech and it was very interesting to see him speak live. He is probably the most nationally famous person to walk three feet from me and I am glad that I blew off work for forty five minutes to check it out. One thing I am going to miss about CHB is how visible the hospital is in the public eye. I feel proud to work for CHB and its really a pity that my manager is so passive aggressive and can't manage staff worth a bean.

I have been blessed throughout this recovery period with a great sponsor and his name is Ed. He isn't the guy I would want to call if I had a drink in my hand and needed someone to talk me down but he is excellent at other parts of sponsorship. He is very pro AA without being a clone and he genuinely cares about me and my sobriety. I first met Ed at the Joy Of Living meeting where he was the speaker. After the meeting he came up to me and offered a meeting booklet with all of the meetings that he attended notated. I stalked Ed for a week or so and then asked him to be my sponsor. After a rough start which was as much my doing as it was his I now look forward to hanging out with him whenever we get the chance. He knows more about me and whats going on in my life than any other person on the planet and I hope that he is able to learn from me. He says he does and I believe him. Ed's sobriety is very strong because he came from a very, very dark place before he got sober and he knows that he will return there quickly if he is active again. His whole social scene is based on AA meetings and friends because that is what keeps him sober and he knows that.

I kinda went overboard getting Ed some gifts for the holiday but I didn't exceed my budget of twenty five bucks. I just know that money is tight for him right now and I wanted to show him in a materialistic way how much his sponsorship means to me. Ed is like a combination friend, big brother, and teacher and I think that he and I relate well to each other. I picked up a sketch book, a 2010 Lunar Calendar, and this cool "Space Pen". Not sure what makes a pen a space pen but the packaging claimed that it came with a story. According to the interweb this pen can write in space due to pressurized nitrogen in the inky part. Damn, I was hoping that it went to space or something but the fact you can write with it upside down is pretty cool in its self. I was going to pick up some markers and drawing pens but I don't know which ones he uses and I am sure that graphics folks are pretty picky about such things. Anyway, I look forward to giving him the gifts tonight and thats the best part of giving, other than the shopping of course !