tired| B: | ... I would kind of prefer it if you put that out before getting in. |
| HH: | Okay. |
| B: | Sorry about all the mess. |
| HH: | No, thanks for the ride. What's your name? |
| B: | Bax. |
| HH: | ... Man, what were your parents thinking to give you a name like that. |
| B: | They didn't. It's a name I took myself. It's short for "Baxil." |
| HH: | Interesting. What nationality is a name like "Bakh-heel"? |
| B: | Dragon. |
| HH: | ... ... How old are you? |
| B: | 32. |
| HH: | Ah, I'm older than you. I'm 48. On January 1 -- that's my birthday -- I turned 48, and you want to know what else, on the 1st? |
| B: | Huh, what? |
| HH: | Three years sober. |
| B: | Congratulations! |
(driving)
| B: | So are you heading to the AA meeting? |
| HH: | Hmm? |
| B: | Well, you're getting off right at the Brunswick exit, and I actually picked a guy up two weeks ago headed there, I drove him to AA -- |
| HH: | Oh, I know the one you're talking about. |
| B: | Yeah. |
| HH: | But no. I don't do AA. Nothing against them, but they -- you know, they don't believe in medications.* I'm bipolar. I take pills for that, they help me control the worst of it. |
| B: | ... ... Well, you know, whatever helps. |
I helped him buy food** by giving him $5. As strange as my beliefs are to most folk ... there's being strange, and then there's needing help. Responding to that is one of the most human*** things we can do.
--
EDITED TO ADD: Apropos of nothing but two keywords in my post: The webcomic Jezebel and the Bipolar Dragon.
--
* Author's note: Web research shows that they're more nuanced than he stated.
** I have no assurance of this, but the usual rejoinder ("It's spent on booze or drugs!") is both insulting and not necessarily accurate (see table 3 and its discussion in particular).
*** +e
