Passport: Staying or Going?
- Anita Delene Manthe
- Jul 28, 2016
- 2 min read
It is frustrating attending to the paper trail requirements of life. No matter where you live, the same is required of you. Birth certificates, national identity documents, passports, and taxes too.
Today, my project was passport renewal. All documents necessary for renewal were to be certified. Mine were. I lined up and waited to be called. Soon it was my turn. The official asked for the originals to verify the certified copies were correct. Now this is new to me. Home Affairs requires certified copies, and those doing the certification are government staff – the police! I adhered to the passport renewal requirement only to be told they needed to check if the certification was indeed of the originals, of my originals.
Now that’s scary! What are they saying?
Quite a statement of distrust of one government department to another is clearly made in this requirement. And, yes, it was an inconvenience to have to go home and then return with the originals to be checked with the certified copies.
But, I did.
I lined up again, presented my documents. Paid the fee. And, had my picture taken. Now I wait!
What can I learn from the delays of today’s passport renewal process? It is my choice how to process what occurred, and how I do this makes vast statements about me. I can think the staff are stupid, and wasting my time, that they do not know what they are doing. Or, I can appreciate the added step of diligence taken to ensure my passport is processed in an orderly way. I can be grateful that someone, at some time, noticed errors occurred and made a decision to rectify it – they changed processing policy. This they did to serve me, and to serve others too. They did this to protect and honor the nation. To provide security for not only me, but others too.
Perhaps, if we took the time to examine the real purposes of those necessary paper trails we will appreciate the order it brings to society and the protection it affords us. Perhaps, we will then have the necessary patience and gratitude towards those who process our documents.
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9
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