School has started again, and work has picked up its pace. My garrison and I need a few days to dig out from life.

Thanks to those of you who inquired about my wherabouts…much appreciated.

In one of Al Gore’s national campaigns—I can’t remember if it was for President or VP—he appeared on a televised forum.  (The audience was young adults, so it was probably MTV. )

An obviously intelligent young lady,  just graduated from college, told Gore that she planned to pursue a career in the “creative arts.”   She wanted to know whether Gore, if elected, could enhance government-funded health care options for people (like herself) who pursued career paths that didn’t pay well.  

Gore said he’d try.  I wished he’d said something like this instead: “Ma’am, you’re obviously talented and capable.  We need to save our precious public health care funding for people who are truly needy, who truly can’t provide for themselves.  You need to take care of your own healthcare needs. Find a job that allows you to do that.”

Maybe, now that we’re in the midst of a great national debate on healthcare, Gore could say it now?  I wish he would.

I encourage everyone to follow their dreams.  If you want to be a painter, or a writer, or a performance artist, great!

However, you’re a citizen first.  That entails personal responsibility.  I submit that, one of those responsibilities is making sure your personal needs—food, shelter, healthcare—are taken care of by YOU.

That’s what jobs are traditionally for.  You take a job that gives you the money and benefits you need to feed, clothe, shelter and take care of you and yours. 

Now, it would be nice if you can find a job that does all those things AND you enjoy—but it’s not critical.  It’s not central to the reason for working in American society and it never has been.  We work to support ourselves and (hopefully) not burden our neighbors and neighborhood.  We don’t work for fun, personal growth and fulfilment.

I suspect that some of the advocates for a public healthcare option hope that, if the government will take care of their medical bills, they can then pursue jobs that they like more but pay less.  Well, in a capitalist society, the better paying jobs tend to be those that provide services that society values.  (I’m referring to private-sector jobs here.  I acknowledge that many public servants—e.g., teachers, social workers—don’t get paid commensurate with their work’s value to society). 

Remember economics class, when the teacher talked about Adam Smith’s “invisible hand?”  Capitalist economies will naturally shift resources to those needs people most want fulfilled.  People who do those jobs, who fulfill those needs, get better pay and benefits.

Does this mean that every idealistic, aspiring writer or painter should go work on Wall Street or join the Army.  No.  It does mean, though, that you need to take steps to ensure that, if you do have health problems, you’re covered.

Take a job that offers benefits, and pursue your dream on the weekends or evenings.  Most young people are healthy enough to qualify for catastrophic health care coverage with premiums of just a few hundred dollars a month.  So, buy a beater car, get the basic cable package, take a roommate and buy the insurance you need. 

We need to save our limited public healthcare dollars for the disabled, single parents, and others who really aren’t financially able to meet their needs.  The rest of us need to pull our own weight.

One of the best—and most overlooked—deals going is the annual pass.  Parks, zoos, museums etc…generally offer annual passes, and in many cases they’re quite reasonably priced.  Often, for the cost of three or four individual visits, you can have an annual pass that lets you in the gate anytime you want.

Your Correspondent* hereby begins a regular series on The Great Annual Passes of Tucson.  Our first installment: Reid Park Zoo.

The zoo (http://www.tucsonzoo.org/) is one of the coziest I’ve ever visited.  If you want to get close to the animals, this is the place for you.  HOW close?  Check out the slideshow.

From the zoo’s website:

Reid Park Zoo’s mission is “to encourage human commitment to the conservation of biological diversity and to provide educational and fun experiences for visitors of all ages.  The Zoo, founded in 1965 with a collection of birds, prairie dogs, farm animals, and a few squirrel monkeys, has expanded to a 17-acre campus that houses hundreds of animals in naturalistic exhibits and annually hosts nearly 500,000 visitors. Reid Park Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

A typical family (two parents plus ALL your kids under 18) can enter the zoo on a Family membership, which costs…$50.  I.e., for less than the cost of dinner for two at a typical Tucson restaurant, you and yours can have the run of a fine, family-focused zoo every day of the year except Christmas. 

Household 6 signed us up as Family members as soon as the Little Gunner could toddle more than six feet without falling.  Now he’s a zoo regular.  One of his favorites is the otter pond.  While trying to restrain him from joining the otters in their morning swim, I was reminded how entertaining they can be.  While one otter swam around and around the pool, the other stayed close by clamping down on his partner’s leg.  (The first otter seemed fine with it…so hey, who am I to say anything?)

I do feel sorry for the polar bear, though.  Stuck in Tucson, of all places!  Every time I’ve been there he’s looked miserable.  Has anyone seen him at times when he’s seemed happy?  (Admittedly, I have no idea how one tells if a polar bear is happy, but I’ll bet someone in Tucson knows).

The more we support our local attractions, the more they can do for us.  So, consider joining the Reid Park Zoo.  They’ve come a long way from their humble beginnings of prairie dogs and squirrel monkeys.

* This is my hat-tip to one of my favorite magazines, which doesn’t give its writers bylines.  Instead, it refers to them in the text as “Your Correspondent.”