Gate Keepers

Health care protocol makes you first see a primary care doctor before you have tests or therapies.  You just can’t walk into a hospital and demand brain surgery without a doctor’s order.  The reason is clinical and financial for both the doctors and the insurance company, respectively.  Do I like it?  No, but that’s how it works.  Do you ever have the doctor answer the phone when you call the office?  No, most of the time you’ll get a call back from the nurse.  Even though you wanted to talk to the doctor, the nurse is the one who takes care of your issue.  I’m okay with that since I just want the answer.  These are all gates to control patient flow and improve economics.  Is it right? Is it customized to your liking?   No, not always, but it’s important to understand where the gates are and how they work.  In reality the biggest obstacle to get through a gate is your attitude about yourself.  Focus on yourself and less about the gate to feel more in control of your life since the most important gate at the end of days is purely about you.

At Notre Dame in the 1980’s the dorms had beer parties, but access was limited by a guest list and door bouncers.  For low life freshmen like Mike Mulhern, Gary Adzia, Pat Doolan, and myself, we had to scrounge to get on a guest list which was as rare as sunshine in Indiana.  Mike, the future attorney, bent rules early,  so he told us to rub bike grease on the back of our hands to look like hand stamps.  It worked a couple of times until we got tossed out on our heads.   Spring came and for some odd reason whenever we showed up to a party the bouncers would whisper between themselves and let us in.  We went from goats to heroes without a clue why.  This happened so often I asked Mike, “do you have friends at these dorms?”  He said without blinking, “no, I started a rumor you killed a guy in a barfight in your hometown.”  Now, granted I was a little rough around the edges back then, but free beer was free beer even when it sullies your reputation.  With the right approach you can get in most gates.

In that light, it’s more important to understand how the gate works instead of fighting with it.  After graduating from college and skating on the home town murder rap I started a long career in healthcare.  One Christmas my father complained he was having trouble settling his medical bill at the University of Vermont.  Knowing they wouldn’t talk to me directly I called up the billing office and pretended to be him.  After about a half hour of haggling I got everything settled including a refund.  Before hanging up the lady from billing said, “are you sure this is Gerald Lawson speaking? You sound awfully young for an 82 year old man.”  I said, “not only do I sound young, but I feel young, my wife is pregnant with twins.” 

Gates come in all shapes and sizes; some real, some perceived.  Careers, marriages, financial strains and other challenges don’t have physical gates, but they have perceived ones that are tall and wide in our minds.  Too often we think we can’t get through these gates because of personal issues; age,  gender, religion, nationality, etc.  We sell ourselves short way too often.   Ultimately the only gate in life we should focus on is the gate into Heaven.  Matthew 22:14 says  “For Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen” makes it sound like an impossible task.  In my mind, however, I believe the gate to Heaven is opened to all people who treat others kindly and closed to those who don’t.  It’s as simple as that.  So, the next time an obstacle blocks your way;  assess yourself and not the gate; it’ll open a lot easier than you think.  Slainte.