Observations of a water boy.

I am not a lawyer, but I am not just an ordinary citizen either. I am a citizen of the free world. Citizens of the free world have powers that ordinary ones do not. I am a volunteer. There is great job security when you volunteer. A guy who lives like this should be married to someone like my wife, that sweet woman, Martha—a woman who will not throw you out of the house for plowing the family funds into so many voluntary efforts. I have a spirit guide whose name is Gunga Din. Like Rudyard Kipling’s half-naked water boy, I scurry here and there on battlefields. I try to give what amounts to a cup of cold water to persons with disabilities and those who fight for them. I try to do things that help to keep them going forward. Two months ago, the United States Supreme Court banned the execution of persons with mental retardation. It happened in Atkins v. Virginia on June 20, 2002. Hundreds of stories can be told about how this remarkable victory happened. There is, however, one that needs to be told. It is about a man, a woman, and a bunch of Sherpa guides.