Creating Dignity

I met a professional couple while in their mid-thirties decided to make a move from the private sector to government, specifically embassy liaisons. The husband an attorney was the primary hire and worked for an acronym that promoted international business interests in the impoverished country that hosted them. Intermingling businesses and government was arduous but he felt it important, and thought that he may be making a positive difference. He said the biggest hurdle was internal and told me of a time when he needed Post-It-Notes. The bureaucracy required him to fill out a requisition, which would need to be processed, meaning that he couldn’t take possession of the Post-It-Notes that he could actually see right over the bureaucrats shoulder. The woman was a healthcare researcher who managed to get on at the embassy post office as an ‘i’ dotter. I’s didn’t come around very often so she naturally gravitated to crossing t’s. T crossing didn’t fall under her job description and she was immediately admonished. There is indignity in bureaucratic inefficiency, until one day you are a bureaucrat and the indignity vanishes. President Biden is without shame talking of growing bureaucracy…indignity, to get us out of the mess we find ourselves in. The answer is not growing bureaucracy, it is Expectations of Efficiency Through Creativity, creating dignity, pride, and respecting precious resources of Americans.