I’ve got five cousins that I grew up with, from two different families; in fact, my family lived briefly with each of the other two families during our formative years when we ranged from 7-14 years old. Extended family is awesome because you’re bonded to them through blood, even though you may have absolutely nothing in common with them. And I love that even though we’re TOTALLY different, we’re all close and comfortable with each other even though we’re collectively an intellectual actor, a smart-ass doctor, a rock-climbing finance whiz, a strong nurse, an artsy musician, and a vegetarian glass blower. Guess there’s something to be said for a blood bond and growing up together.
I’m proud of all of them for many different reasons, and I think they’re all awesome. But I just wanted to share this story that one of them told me this week. He used to work as an insurance broker. A low-income family with a premature child was two days late in their premium payment, and the insurance company canceled their policy. He argued with the insurance company repeatedly trying to get the family reinstated, but the insurance company refused to on the grounds that there was no legal requirement for them to reinstate the family (and of course, the insurance company was losing money on the care of the premature baby).
Finally, my cousin told the insurance company, “If you cancel their policy, my next phone calls will be to the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and all the local news stations telling them that your Christmas present to this family was canceling their insurance on a premature infant.”
The insurance company then discussed it privately and called him back to tell him that they would reinstate the policy.
THAT IS FREAKIN’ AWESOME!
