Well, I'll be darned! Me and Patch Adams have become pen pals! I wrote to him and shared my story and my ideas, and asked him a couple of questions, and that resulted in him send me books, essays, and letters. He included a long hand-written letter to me encouraging me in what I'm doing and supporting my personal values about treatment and care for others. I shared with him how my values (namely, the importance of relating personally to others in the course of treatment and healing) and the constraints of bureaucracy had become irreconcilable, and he understood and wrote that he has no regrets, "no bad moments," in his own battles with his professional critics, because he has made a choice to "live each moment" and to stand up for his beliefs even when they have cost him. Oh, and we also have IDENTICAL politics, too!

He's invited me to keep writing and said he hopes to continue our conversations. And, he adds, he was honored by the Cree Nation as a symbolic chief at a powwow; this is meaningful because the Cree and the Ojibway are sibling tribes!

I am so excited that I had to share this.