04 February, 2008

Social Servant

Social Servant.

So I suppose I should explain a little bit about myself to my new world. Well, being in Amerika I guess the best way to describe myself is to tell you what job I do, or what career I am in. This seems to be the most defining feature in our country: our jobs. Normally I would go into some rambling diatribe on how wrong this is but in my case it’s pretty fitting.
I work for Social Services somewhere in Maryland. For the past few years I’ve sat in a small cube farm and interviewed people to find them eligible for Food Stamps and Medical Assistance. Now although I may not make a hefty salary working for the state I am rich in stories from my workings with the public. On one hand I can describe how ignorant many people are or how trifling others are or how they are never going to get out of their economic rut. But on the other hand I can explain how an entire underclass of Amerikan citizens have managed to maintain themselves in their underground economy and be marginally subsidized by our benevolent government. Which hand is better? Which is worse? What’s the difference?
One thing is for sure. If you are a flaming liberal then a year or two of working for Social Services will really challenge your beliefs. It made me dabble a bit in social conservatism but I was strong and was able to maintain my liberal ways.
I’ll explain my tirade on Right v. Left later. Stay tuned for that. It should be interesting. But it probably won’t.