Oh, To Be A Politician

“Do as we say, not as we do.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

For some, the grass is always greener on the other side of fence.

I know whereof I speak.

I was barely a teenager before I started casting about in earnest for a career, one that would not only keep me interested but would supply me with ample dough to travel, play, and support a family. (I was arrogant enough, even then, to believe that someone would marry me and bear my children.)

I settled on veterinary medicine as conduit to fulfillment; by the age of twenty-four I was a practicing animal doctor.

It was a pretty good gig. It ticked all the boxes. (Except for the family bit: beautiful damsels didn’t queue up to snag me, shockingly.)

For a while I was content. But I gazed over the fence with increasing envy, admiring the well-groomed lots of physician acquaintances. Their lives, I decided, were even better than my own.

So off I went to medical school. After eight more years of study and training I was a licensed pediatric emergency physician.

This, too, has been an awesome gig: challenging, colourful, rewarding. (I gotta…