Going "Postal"

No one condones it, certainly not I, but it's understandable how normal, rational everyday citizens can become violent and act upon their frustrations.

Frustrations there are a-plenty but usually the average individual gets over it quickly and nothing advances further.

There are, however, galling incidents when a person feels totally insignificant, completely ignored - where the rules of common decency are discarded.

CASE IN POINT: I requested a meeting on her voicemail. Two days went by without a return phone call. On day three, I stopped at her place of work and one of her aides told me she was in meetings all day and could I come back next week? Sure, no problem! However, common courtesy would dictate that same aide could have returned my call and given me that information days earlier.

CASE IN POINT: National news reported a change in airport security policy involving flight crews. What I saw was a huge breach in airport security because of the policy change. Going on line to the Department of Homeland Security webpage I found no "contact us" link. Unthinkable!! Instead I entered my concerns on the website of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). I still haven't heard from them. Did they get the message? Are they closing the loophole? Nothing! Nada! Gornisht! Not one word.

I sent a letter, snail mail, to Janet Napolitano, Director of the Department of Homeland Security expressing my concerns. If you heard from her, tell her I'm still waiting for a response. This is national security we're talking about. Airport security and not one word. Did they get the letter? Was it thrown in the trash by some minimum wage secretary who thought it wasn't important, something so trivial they shouldn't bother the director?

CASE IN POINT: When Barack Obama unveiled his health care plan last year it was more than 1,000 pages long. No one in the administration took the time to explain what was in the bill to the American public. Because they didn't explain it, the talk show pundits decided to explain the bill and they put their own spin on it and excoriated it. They used the bill to bash the administration every way they could and because none of us, and some members of Congress too, didn't know what was in the bill, we couldn't rationally defend the measure.

Fast forward to 2010. The Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives and the first order of business was the repeal of the Health Care Law. However, we, the people, still don't know what's in the law. We do know parts of it...dependents can remain on a parent's health care until age 26, pre-existing conditions no longer apply, etc., but what's in the rest of the law, the rest of the thousand pages?

I wrote to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services asking her to buy some television time and tell us what's in the law. I even sent it certified mail, return receipt. I got the return receipt. I know it was delivered. But did the secretary see the letter? I haven't a clue. Someone in the office could have emailed me, but I haven't heard a word. So the House and the pundits will continue to bash the law and the president because no one in authority is talking to US.

The American people can solve the problems of the state, nation and the world during halftime watching the Superbowl, at a bridge game, at a night out with friends. But when we attempt to pass our solutions to those in authority we're ignored, pushed aside or made to wait.

And when someone, someone who's mentally unstable, goes "postal," we shake our collective heads in sadness, we wonder what "set him off" and we go about our lives telling our friends and family, "That's the way it is, we can't change things." How sad!