On April 1st (no foolin') I attended a rally in Columbus to celebrate the passage of the health care reform bill. Never before in my life had I been to such an affair, but I was at this one by invitation of Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. Sherrod and I are old homeys -- we're both from Mansfield, attended the same church, and went to the same junior high school. But that's not why I was invited.
Over the past year, I sent rather frequent emails to my elected officials in D.C. about what I saw as the necessity to do something to improve the state of health insurance in this country. Mostly I sent stuff to Sen. Brown and Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy. I sent a couple emails to Sen. Voinovich too, but I knew he didn't really give a shit. At some point, I shared the story of Kathy being turned down for health insurance for a lame-ass, trivial pre-existing condition -- mild, treatable high blood pressure.
So when the health bill finally passed, I got an email from Sen. Brown's office inviting me to attend this celebration rally thing in Columbus on the 1st. I sent back the RSVP form and said I'd be there. A couple days later, I got a phone call from someone at Brown's office asking if I would be willing to speak at this rally and tell my story (Kathy's story, actually) to the crowd. I said yes.
And I'm glad I did. It was a real rah-rah party atmosphere (albeit a party with no drinking and an unimpressive deli tray). Had about 400 supporters there, with signs and balloons and confetti. There were cops and Secret Service and metal detectors. Photographers, videographers and newspaper reporters. Across the street were 4 or 5 pathetic TEA-bag protestors, trying hard to work up their moral outrage at having a black guy for President.
There were two other people like me who were there to "tell their story". We arrived early for a private meet and greet with Brown, Kilroy and Mayor Michael Coleman. After all these years, Sherrod recognized me and called me by name before I could introduce myself. Very gratifying. The other story tellers and I got to sit up front on the dais along with the politicians and dignitaries. When the time came, I was introduced by Mayor Coleman. I got the personal shout-out from Rep. Kilroy when she spoke, and got the same from Sherrod when he took the podium. He also name-dropped our mutual alma mater, Johnny Appleseed Junior High, his memory refreshed by his old 1966 yearbook photo (above), which I brought with me. When all the speeches were finished, complete strangers came up and thanked us (for what, I'm not sure). Some lady asked me to autograph her sign. It was unreal!
Sure hope the R's don't repeal it!
I'm still a rank beginner at this blog stuff, so I can't figure out how to insert a working link into this post. But if you look at "Buster's Links" and click "Health Care Rally Photo Set", it will take you to some photos of the event. You'll find your humble correspondent pictured in the 5th row, 2nd, 3rd, 4th images; 7th row, 2nd image; 8th row, 1st image. My 15 minutes!
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