"PAPER WORK"

     
     "Of the making of books, there is no end, and much study wearies the body."  
           Ecclesiastes 12:12

I would like to offer a kind of parallel sentiment:  "Of the making of paperwork and forms, there is no end and too much of it becomes a  pain !"

        For the past several hours, I have been 'up to my elbows' in paperwork, specifically completing applications that require 'professional disclosure' statements.  Certainly, I support competency and adherence to ethical guidelines in my profession
(and all others, come to think of it).  But sometimes it begins to feel like 'busy work'.  

      It seems that I have been completing applications, writing 'essays' about my perspectives on many topics, and filling out forms and more forms  for most of my 75 years:
   Let's see; those that I can remember:
      .College applications
      .Seminary applications
      .Graduate School applications
      .Academic 'self-study' reports for the college's accreditation
      .Application for Residency in Psychotherapy
      .Ordination examinations in two separate Protestant denominations.
      .The innumerable forms and reports required of United Methodist pastors
      .American Association of Pastoral Counselors membership application
      .Professional licensure application
      .Various job and professional applications
      .Commercial financial transactions, e.g., house and automobile purchases
      .And, though my military service time was short, the motto seemed to be: "THINK . . . in triplicate"
     
 For one of those that I am currently completing, transcripts of my graduate work of almost FIFTY years (!) ago were required.  This notwithstanding that the organization to which I am  applying for a supervisory status already has had these on file for almost twenty years. (Now, I know, this  is one of the 'muttering' posts that comes along occasionally.)

    Many years ago, I saw No Time for Sergeants.  I seem to recall a scene in which someone was trying to educate Andy Griffith, playing the new soldier, on how to put 'last name first, first name in the middle, and middle name last'.  I had not thought of that scene (likely recalled with only partial accuracy) in a long time.  Isn't  'free association' wonderful !!  Beyond that, though, I find in it a delightful lampoon of 'forms for the sake of having forms'. 

   Rabbi Ed Friedman, who was a renowned systems therapist, once commented that great focus on forms was likely a strong indicator of the degree of anxiety floating within a system.  Now, what if the  anxious 'system' that impacts us all is our very society !?

   Henry David Thoreau complained that "our life is frittered away by detail.  Simplify, simplify, simplify . . . "  There is some question as to whether Albert Einstein actually said : "Everything should be made as simple as  possible, but not simpler."  Regardless of the specifics of the quote, I like the idea.
I wonder if I could apply it to the ream of forms that I am currently completing . . .
  
      Satchel