Rant #1,279: The Need (For Things) To Work

Yesterday was as exasperating a day as I have spent in my entire life.

Dealing with government agencies can't ever be easy, but when you actually have to sit down and deal with them, well, you really see how government bureaucracy mucks up everything we do.

I got a first-hand, up-close example of that yesterday, and it is truly sad that a country that is as good as it gets on the face of the globe allows this type of nonsense to go on.

But it does.

It relates to my son getting Medicaid, something he so desperately needs to move on with his life.

It just pains me to see how the process is slower than molasses, and so muddled.

The burden of proof is on him, and since I am his official representative--another story about bureaucracy that I won't get into now--it is also on my shoulders, and let me tell you, the weight of proof is a burden that is very difficult to bear.

I truly wonder how others get the resources they need from our government to survive.

All my son needs is Medicaid, which will provide him programs so that he can survive as we makes that leap from student to an adult in need of a job.

It isn't easy.

He actually applied for another job yesterday at a local establishment prior to our appointment.

He is eager, he is willing to do what it takes to get the job done, but alas, he also has a learning disability, and it is difficult for a potential employer to work their way past that and see that this is someone who deserves a chance.

But he hasn't given up, which is really a good characteristic that he has had since he was a baby, when he tried to roll over on his own and couldn't, but he always tried, even then, to do that.

He has been a fighter his whole life, and I am sure it will lead to something good.

But right now, all that we are getting is exasperated.

Long waits, ineffectual staff, lack of answers ... they all go with the territory when you are dealing with a government bureaucracy so full of red tape that it is strangling the system.

We are hoping that yesterday was the final step in the process, the last step in a steep stairway to my son getting Medicaid.

But we got no assurances yesterday, and certainly weren't heartened by the fact that we did more sitting and waiting than anything else.

Hours in waiting for 15 minutes of work; it doesn't seem like a fair tradeoff, but that is what happened yesterday.

But heck, if this is the way it is, then this is the way it is.

We will just grin and bear it--we don't really have a choice--and we will have to wait, patiently, to see what happens.

There is nothing else we can do.

Patience is a virtue, and well, we have to be very, very virtuous in waiting for the state to make a determination.

If it leads to my son getting what he needs, great, I can say that it was, in a sense, worth it.

If he doesn't get what he needs, then we have to move on.

And whatever the case, I can guarantee you that we will do just that.

Speak to you again next week.