Last night a Special News Breaking Report briefly interrupted a TV program that I was watching. But my annoyance over the interruption soon turned to joy when the camera showed colleagues of Rep. Gabrielle (Gabby) Gifford welcoming her back to the floor of the House of Representatives with a standing ovation. This occurred seven months after Gabby was shot in the head outside a grocery store during a meeting with her constituents in Arizona. Although I never met the congresswoman, I was very happy to see her back on her feet.
For over a decade I worked in government relations offices as an administrative staff member. That’s a crafty way of saying that I was basically a paper-shuffler and gofer sometimes with impressive sounding job titles. However, a highlight of my job was that it enabled me to meet and greet some of Washington’s political movers and shakers.