Over the past decade, I’ve worked on a bunch of political campaigns with some very interesting politicians that I respect a lot. My wife has ended up working for Common Cause and I’ve moved over to work for a Federally Qualified Health Center.

I’ve become a little disillusioned with politics. Too much of politics is ethically challenged attempts to swing a small group of activists one way or another, and not to engage the broader public in a serious discussion about how to make our country better. Working with a health center seems like a more effective way to bring about political change.

Then, this evening, I read an email from an old friend. Thirty years ago, Kirk and I attended Grace Church in Manhattan. It was an Episcopal church that some how managed to draw in a large crowd of twenty somethings and get them excited about Christianity. It wasn’t the sort of Christianity that was based on going out and hitting people on the head with bibles, and it wasn’t the sort of Christianity that skipped over the mystical for the sake of social action. It was a formative time in my life, and I still hold friendship, like my friendship with Kirk as the closest most important friendships beyond my immediate family.

There was a young assistant minister there named Bob Massie. He stood up well amidst some of the other great ministers there. Eventually, many of us left New York.

Bob left to get a Doctorate from Harvard Business School and was one of Harvard University's Fellows in Ethics and the Professions. He was born with hemophilia and contracted HIV and Hepatitis C through his hemophilia treatment. The hepatitis C virus damaged his liver, and eventually, he received a liver transplant, which cured his hemophilia and suppressed his viruses.

He is one of my nearly 2000 friends on Facebook, so I’ve often missed his rare updates there. So, I was a bit surprised when I got a message from Kirk today asking, if I had thought about helping out Bob Massie in his campaign for U.S. Senate.

Um, no. I hadn’t thought about helping out Bob Massie in his campaign for U.S. Senate. Because I didn’t know he was running. I quickly checked to get more information. Yes, Bob is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. I cannot think of a better candidate for Massachusetts. For that matter, although I know many great politicians, I’d be hard pressed to think of anyone in the United States that I would support for U.S. Senate more than I would support Bob Massie.

I’ve kind of drifted from the political sphere, so I’m not sure what sort of help I can really do, but I will do anything I can to help Bob Massie get elected.