Hobo Handbook: Memoirs of a Homeless Poet in New York (Excerpt #45)

THE HOBO HANDBOOK: MEMOIRS OF A HOMELESS POET IN NEW YORK

By Daniel Canada c.2010

Next, we step over into the territory and domain of the government, an honorable institution, designed to take care of the many and varied needs of its citizens. In here we will discover just how this bureaucracy functions, when it comes around to providing for the homeless and less fortunate ones. So, let's have a look-see at these establishments, shall we?

                         

                              

        

CHAPTER FOUR THE GOVERNMENT

"The best thing you can do for the poor is not to become one of them."-Rev. Ike [Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter the 2nd]

GOVERNMENT is defined as “A form or system of rule by which a state is governed.” At this point I wish to make a necessary clarification. When I talk about the government, I am not referring to the President of the United States, Congress, The Senate, or the House of Representatives, which, for the most part, work hard in their assigned tasks to serve the country. Neither am I referring to the Governor of the State and the local State organs of administration.

I am, however, referring to the national and local bureaucratic machinery, with its countless, cumbersome, wheels and tired cogs, which churn endlessly to no-one’s advantage but its own.

That’s right. I’m shinning a flashlight into the gnarly cracks and crevices of the hither-to-unknown, little, comfortable, and useless, government, civil-servant-bureaucrat.

These are the jokers, who sit behind enormous desks with their eyes glued to their watches, counting time and waiting to get in enough years accumulated, in order to get a fat, cushy, government retirement check. Yes, I’m referring to these bastards, as well as the apparatus that deals with housing the homeless and, supposedly, helping them acquire a decent place of residence. This includes the office of Public Assistance, which is supposed to provide adequate food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid assistance to those who qualify, as well. If there was such an animal as “Quality Assurance,” you can rest assure these guys and gals would fail woefully in measuring up to the aptitude of their task.

First, I will discuss the pathetic office of Public Assistance.

Already I see the miserly bureaucrats running for cover and ducking under the protection of their paper-latent desks.

(To be continued...)