It is not enough to just assume that the Healthcare Overall is entirely good or evil...

I have friends on both sides of the fence with regards to this matter. For the most part, they are informed people making reasonable decisions. The downer is talking to people that for whatever ideological ax they have to grind find it necessary to spew invectives instead of making salient points or (God forbid) listen to someone else's.

I have come to no official conclusion yet, but I will say that I am generally happier when my tax dollars are spent providing people with healthcare than on unjustified wars. I suppose my chief concern with the new bill is how exactly it will be funded, and whether or not will ultimately bone my new family. Selfish I know, but honest.

I'm off to do more research.

So I'm 30

Dear EM of The Future,

You turned 30 this last weekend and there are some things I think we should consider:

1. Even though it may not seem like it, every step you took over the last 30 years to get where you are now (and where you will be in the future) were entirely your own. It is too easy to call it fate. Though you may have been on a changing sea, you were still Skipper all 30 of those years.
2. At age 30 I pretty much feel the same way I did at age 20...or 10 for that matter. My responsibilities and skills have all changed, but fundamentally, I am the same.
3. 30 years from now your life will be in its third and final stage. Whatever you've been putting off had better take center stage since I have a feeling that the next 30 will pass much faster than the first.
4. Our parents constantly said that family was the only thing you could truly rely on...it was easy to dismiss but it turned out to be 100% true. Future EM, your daughter, and wife, and family will now rely on you the same as you relied on your family.
5. Sometimes, I feel like I have to conform to some arbitrary version of "adulthood" that has been placed on me...I assume its going to get worse so I hope you do your best to ignore it...If you tally it up, I've done much better on my own than with advice.