RELUCTANT TO SAY

You'll get a bunch of interesting comments when you put on a suit and tie, shine your shoes, grab a microphone and head out to a busy shopping mall accompanied by a camera man to do people-on-the-go interviews.

The first person was an attractive, petite, 40-something Vietnamese lady still dressed in her colorful surgical scrubs.

I asked what in her mind was one of the purposes of computers. She gave it some thought and answered with a question, the same one nearly everyone has: "Make things easier?"

Given her profession I followed that up with how many strokes and heart attacks did she think computers have caused. After all, the frustration level can be off the charts. When will the first law suit, if it hasn't already, be filed? And will it be a big class action one?

You can see the late night infomercial. "If you or anyone you know has suffered a recent heart attack and you or they work with computers, call Skalenny, Skokcroft  and Smith now. You may be entitled to a claim."

Then I asked about her paperwork load, being an RN for 20 years and working two jobs, has it increased or lessened? She just rolled her eyes and smiled. How about trees, has the computer saved any trees and if so how many?

She declined on that one too, again with a smile. So I changed gears a bit and asked her if the legal profession played a role in creating what should be obvious to everyone, the oceans of paper work businesses, large and small, have to deal with everyday in an age of the great computer.

More and more employers today seem to believe or have been sold that more paper work will somehow save them from one of the planet's greediest professions. It doesn't.
More and more businesses today, large and small, seemed to have bought into the idea  that more is really less. It isn't. 

This went on for a while until, to get to the bottom line, I asked where does the demand for all the paper work originate. She wasn't sure. So I offered what I considered was a huge hint--government.

She chuckled a a bit and flashed a brief but bright smile like someone had just tugged on a light bulb string buried deep somewhere in the recesses of her gray matter.

"You know, I have been thinking the same thing for a long time," she said, "but was reluctant to say anything."

In case you don't recognize it, that's pretty much summarizes the American public's stubborn, misplaced willingness to tolerate the pathetic nonsense, right, left or abstained, going on in Washington.

Remain reluctant at your own peril.