I consider the government shutdown local news because it’s about all of us here on Orcas. My daughter is a prime example. She is one of those furloughed as a result of the impasse in Washington over funding for the “Obamacare” affordable health care act.

She wrote to us, “No work, no pay. Dreadful!” I noticed that her first concern was that she couldn’t work. The work she does as a federal government employee is to oversee projects designed to help those with cancer to receive the best researched and proven care available.

Perhaps you know someone who has cancer. That person is not a faceless nobody. And neither is my daughter a faceless bureaucrat. I am thinking about it, and I hope you will too.

David Kobrin

Eastsound