More and more I’m coming to truly believe that it’s not the people in the place of ultimate power that are the monsters we should be fearing, but the casual indifference of the people who carry out the orders with faces averted.
Example- this week there’s breaking news about the kids kept in completely unacceptable conditions as illegal unaccompanied minors, and it’s Trump’s fault.
Yes… and no.
For every Trump, there’s people walking in and out of those centers, fully aware of how those children are living who both do nothing and say nothing. They are just there to get a paycheck. I’m sure they tell themselves things like they are just working with the tools they have, and the kids are still better off in that center than wandering out in the desert.
And they are both right.. and horribly wrong. But these are the stories you tell yourself.
Think about the last bureaucracy you dealt with that was going to have a major impact on your life. I like doctor’s offices and the Social Security Administration as examples- health and sometimes the means to pay for life. Now, how many people did you run into that were truly there to help and engaged in you as a person to see to it you got what you needed, to give you information on how to navigate the Byzantine systems they have in place versus the ones that just found a reason to swiftly end their specific interaction with you by sending you somewhere else?
There’s a lot of places in this world we only go because we have problems or we need help. And I’m sure there’s a lot of people who genuinely want to help, but I don’t seem to see as many of them in the places where it’s literally life and death situations day after day.
Sadly, in my experience lately, there have been more people who can’t engage as people, but to whom you are just another problem.
I’m going to do my best to refuse to look at people as problems, because I don’t want to be seen as one.
Curiouser and Curiouser 