What a French Goose Can Teach Us About Liberty

In Mystic, Connecticut there is a goose named Gloria. She’s very old for a goose, aged at least 30 years.  She has a French heritage, called a "Toulouse Goose" and normally raised for their fat livers, a delicacy in some French restaurants.  She has lived her whole life surrunded by ducks at a pond in the seaside village known best for wooden whaling vessels going back centuries and just upriver from a pizza shop made famous by Julia Roberts. 

I’ve known her my whole life.  Some of my earliest memories are of walking around the Olde Mistick Village (a shopping center made up of boutique shops in antique buildings near the Mystic River), that’s where Gloria has made her home.  We’re of similar ages, both first appearing in the area around 1980. Although I was moved away from the region when I was four, I remember her. I remember her gray feathers and the way she waddles up the rocks alongside the small waterfall connecting the ponds the ducks have overtaken. A big fat gray goose that squawks if she gets angry at loud children. In my case, an avian friend that squawks at you if she recognizes you from decades gone by.

Gloria is sick. I’m told that 32 years of harsh New England winters makes her a very old goose. She has to go to the animal hospital frequently. A bird vet specializes in taking very good care of her there. She’s sort of a celebrity in the area, and the kitchen supply store adjacent to her pond is even named in her honor.  Dan owns the Gray Goose Cookery and takes very good care of her as well.  He gives her prescription medicine daily, and makes sure that she takes it.  Even if it means wading out into the dirty pond full of duck muck. Recently her hospital bills have approached the $3,000 mark, making it difficult for the shopping center owner to justify and afford. Dan took it upon himself to pay the bill, and then set up a fund-raising campaign to help support Gloria’s medical care.  A few messages on Facebook and a jar near the checkout has resulted an unexpected level of support from the local community, as well as from as far away as Central New Jersey (wink wink). 

Surprisingly to some, Gloria got better without the help of a government program.  Intrusive legislation and lobbyists did nothing to help her get better.  No congressmen gave any speeches of support for goose-care, and no senators sponsored any legislation to help insure the health and well-being of Southeastern Connecticut birds living in duck colonies near resort areas. Would you believe that the community took care of her on their own? The community of individuals did what they thought was right, and what they wanted to do – they helped someone in need of care. There wasn’t anywhere for Dan and those who love Gloria to turn, so we took care of it ourselves. Would you also believe that the Doctor that spearheaded Gloria’s care even lowered the health-care costs when they learned of the situation and her lack of income and financial resources?  It was important that she get the care.  So, Dan helped; I helped; the Doctor helped; and dozens if not hundreds of people in the area helped. Gloria got the care, and everyone was better for it. Isn’t it amazing how we as Americans can help even an elderly goose get proper care in her old age? 

Imagine if we were allowed to make better health-care choices for ourselves?  Imagine what we could do for ourselves and each other if we had the ultimate freedom to choose health insurance companies and plans; if we could choose not to have insurance, or just purchase a high-deductable catastrophic care plan?  What if we could make healthcare a local issue, as individuals making decisions in our own communities, rather than being controlled by oppressive legislation and regulations written into law by Republicans and Democrats in Trenton and Washington?  Gloria is no one’s grandmother or sister.  She’s not a child with parents working two and three jobs to just make it through the day.  She’s just a goose that some people cared about.  Can’t we do that same amount of good for each other?

As always, yes, it is that simple.

Epilogue…

I was in Mystic this past week and caught up with Dan for an update. Turns out that recently someone got Gloria a little brother, Lu-Lu, a one-year-old gray goose to keep her company. He is already bigger than her. The vet mentioned that she might benefit from being social interaction with something other than a duck, so now if nothing else – there will always be a gray goose to great visitors for generations to come.

Another funny thing happened recently. Gloria came home from the hospital and the doctor told Dan that after all these years, they have definitively determined that Gloria is in fact…a male goose. (Apparently it’s very difficult to determine the sex of geese)  Shortly after, Lu-Lu was spotted sitting on a brand new egg.  So, it turns out that Gloria is a him, Lu-Lu is a she, and we have a goose egg.  Stay tuned…

Olde Mistick Village 

http://www.oldemistickvillage.com/

The Gray Goose Cookery

http://graygoosecookery.com/