The Heartless Bureaucrat's Prayer

"Jesus!" he seethed and a nearby fellow bureaucrat shut her door.  The rustling of paper was audible as he spat out hissing mini-phrases while rifling through a fresh pile of applications.
"Who the hell authorized.....why don't they.......do they think I'm stupid...what the hell is wrong with her....Goddamnit I shouldabeenaplumber!" and with the last phrase smashed together like an accordion, he slammed the pile down, closed the manilla folder and announced tersely, "I'm going to the warehouse to bring in food.

The back door of the warehouse flung open and the air was sweet with autumn.  The sky was bluer than normal and it seemed deep...not a painted ceiling but an expanse that reached to infinity.  The trees were beginning their transformation from green to browns and oranges to keep up with the clothes and decor down at Old Navy and Kohls....or was it the other way around?  He opened the van and grabbed a sack full of donated food and he turned around and stood face to face with Jesus, leaning against his loading dock.

"This is about those bird flu comment I made earlier, isn't it?" said the heartless bureaucrat, hardly one for paegentry, as he and Jesus went way back.
"Naww...but it will be in your performance review." Jesus smiled, his skin dark, his eyes even moreso.  His middleastern accent lended to his aura of humilty, wisdom and all around non-anglo-Americanism.  The Heartless Bureaucrat found him refreshing and always welcomed his company.  "What's bothering you?"

"All knowing." the Heartless Bureaucrat rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry...I just ran into some serious variances in some of these programs where folks are going for easy money and it's only hurting themselves and their children.  I try to explain how everything works and how to go about things the right way and there are still folks that try to screw us."

"Bucking the system, eh."

"You could call it that. It's not so much a system...like other places.  It's just help when people need it, but still sometimes they take advantage of it and it just gets really frustrating. Don't they realize that I'm just trying to help?"

Jesus took a deep breath and folded his arms.  He was wearing a t-shirt that pictured 3 or 4 native americans with rifles staring martially at the camera...underneath, it read "Homeland Security Since 1492."  He squinted and said, "Remember in Boy Scouts, that boy stepped on a hornets nest while you and Scott and Todd were out camping alone. What was his name....Lenny something...anyhow... You guys picked him up, covered in insects and carried him 2 miles to the camp hospital."

The heartless bureacrat smiled on his right side. "Yeah, I got stung a few times myself because they were coming out of his clothes."

"Yes, and you got a black eye and Scott twisted his ankle really bad and Todd got his lip split open because he was thrashing about so bad.  It wasn't until you got him at the hospital building that he settled down."

"Yeah."  the heartless one looked at his feet. "So...this is a parable right?"

"No, I just wanted to see if you remember." Jesus leaned over and smacked the heartless bureacrat just above the ear. "OF COURSE IT'S A PARABLE..that's the only way I can get into that thick skull of yours, y'big dummy."  He looked at his hands which were covered in dust. He looked like he'd been lifting rocks in a very dusty place.  "When people are in pain or they're scared, they do stupid things which sometimes hurts other people...even folks trying to help them.  And some folks are scared all the time."

"I guess you're right."

"So cut em some slack, will ya?  And leave the moral development to me.  I'll take care of the liars and the cheaters, you just make sure my lambs get fed, ok?"  He pointed a dusty brown finger straight at the heartless bureaucrat and smiled.  They went back a long way...but the bureaucrat knew who was in charge.  "Now lighten up...the stress will kill ya."

"Thanks for listening."  smiled the heartless bureaucrat.  And in a slow dissolve, not unlike when someone beamed up on Star Trek, Jesus was gone.

"Wish I could do that." he mumbled to himself when a voice echo'd from the heavens:

"When you're dad is the all supreme creator of everything you get to do all sorts of cool stuff....get back to work."

Amen

by a long absent poster