On Friday, April 6, 2018, I either had the privilege or the “pain in my middle class the ass," to visit the Social Security Administration Office located on Vine Street in the heart of Hollywood, my mission was to replace a long lost social security card, first provided to me decades ago. Anything government and everything government bureaucracy is not an easy participant sport, but this trip was my choice so I willingly placed my self in the every chaotic hands of federal employees, necessary to help a very teetering government at least, while it choses, to provide the average citizen with services; services I should say the government insists are necessary. I had no idea, I could have made an appointment, so unwittingly I arrived to a room full of people awaiting attention for services much more important and much more day to day survival than my lost or misplaced Social Security card. But a bit of paranoia has begun to course through my 68 year old veins and i just want to make sure I have all of my documentation in place. (As I just wrote the word documentation, a sad fleeting thought found its way to the front of my brain remaining me of the documentation which became a matter of life or death for the many Jews and enemy of the state of the german Nazi government.)
As I sat and waited my two hour and forty seven minutes to hear my number called, trying my best to NOT become annoyed, I overheard a variety of languages spoken by those sitting in the same waiting arena as I, and i also overheard some very sad stories related by the American citizen to the Social Security Employees, neatly tucked behind panels of glass in very small cubicles on the other side of a wall. Some peoples intonation seemed desperate, as in no SSI, no money for food or rent, some needing their checks and reassurances so they could proceed to their next medical appointment, one if they miss, they may have to wait months on end to re set a time. I heard some older people speaking in their native tongues with people I supposed were their children explaining that his oil her parent had no idea of the paper work necessary. And a few cases where some people could no longer wait for their number to be called, as they have already missed enough work and might be fired if they don’t show up soon. There were mothers who had no other choice but to bring one, two three even in some circumstances four of their children with them, as these women could not afford child care, and as we all know sitting and waiting in a cement bricked beige building with nothing bur coughing and the screeching of plastic chairs is difficult enough for adults and almost like Hell for rambunctious energetic children. I sat there, with my I-Phone, pissed at first that I was so bored, but trying my best to NOT be a member of this Social Security Administration group, I had no choice but to watch and wonder, and say a little grace, “There for the grace of God go I.”
My turn to speak American Bureaucracy to a very bored man behind his window, expressing no emotion came and went, all in the minutes, and I was free to be released from prison. As I started my departure from this captive edifice, I noticed most of the same people still sitting, fidgeting, fretting, hoping to at least find some freedom by receiving at least enough money to survive, until the next crisis. As I exited, i notice two eight by ten framed photos of Pence and Trump, dressed in their China made suits, smiling and confident. I raised my middle finger as a salute and notification of my respect for these crooks, turned in an almost slow motion dramatic swing of my head to the people behind me, sighed, and felt a lump in my throat. There is so much potential, so much greatness humans have accomplished during our life on Earth, and yet for every step forward, we seem to fall back two or three paces. For every hero, we then seem to insist on four villains. I don’ why, i said to myself. But more importantly as I embraced the cool LA breeze exiting this miserable building, I looked to the sky, where I believe the God I trust lives and just said WHY!
