The Senator

I work at a pharmacy, and in mid-August, one of our senators came in for a prescription. He is Senator Chris Dodd, the senior senator from Connecticut for about 20 years. He was on his way back from Groton CT, where they had announced that the submarine base had been spared from defense department cuts (link to his site). I was walking back to the pharmacy, and immediately noticed him. Prior to that I noticed some people walking in the aisles in a somewhat confused manner. The senator was with an aide, a younger man who didn't say much--just kept checking his palm pilot. Senator Dodd has very white hair and his face was flushed, a slight reddish complexion. He wasn't smiling and wasn't serious either. He seemed like a person who was used to giving orders and getting what he wanted when he wanted it.

He walked up to the pharmacy and asked for a prescription to be filled. Yet, he didn't have the doctor's prescription, so he called up the doctor and had the doctor call in the prescription to the pharmacist. By the time the doctor got through to the pharmacist, the senator had done some shopping and put his basket on the counter (of course, he was in the wrong spot--the pharmacist consultation area). I had to take down his information. He didn't have his insurance card, but he pulled out a bunch of credit cards and kind of threw them on the counter. Not out of arrogance, but I feel out of ignorance. He is truly out of touch with the common man, after spending about 20 years in Washington. Which is understandable. Although at the time, he came across as being arrogant. But now, I feel he was out of his environment. Kind of like me in India. :-)

The Senator did not know his zip code in Connecticut. He did know his address and phone number. His aide didn't know the zip code either. Mr. Dodd seemed irritated that I had to ask him all those question, but hey, rules are rules, if you let them slide for one person, the other person may take it as discrimination. He then sat down and was flipping through a People magazine. Meanwhile his aide was trying to get a certain cold sore medication (Abreva)off the hook. But it had a security tag and was locked on the wall. He actually yanked the metal holder (with all the Abrevas on it), off the wall. It took a while but we finally got him his prescription. While the senator was waiting, there was a French customer there, and the Senator started thanking her for her vote. She told him she was French and didn't vote. But he thanked her anyway, and was very kind and nice to her. I thought it was because he was a Democrat, and they love the French. To be fair, that customer is a really nice woman. In any case, one of the other female pharmacy technicians, said that the Senator was hitting on the girl.

Why do I find this so interesting? Why do people all over the world have this fascination with celebrities? I am pretty well read, and know what is going on in Washington, but I was starstruck. I couldn't say a word to him, not a compliment nor a criticism. In any case, he has done a decent job in the Senate, although I disagree with many of his policies. And I will never vote for him, and never have. I think we are fascinated with the private lives of celebrities, we want to know what they are really like. Many of them change and are different, but some are the same and stay the same. I think a good measure of character is what are we like when we are alone, our thoughts are minds, where do they roam? Are we acting the way we are thinking? You are what you eat. To me that means that what we consume is what is in us and finally what we display and show to those we come in contact with. By your fruits you will be known.