It's one thing to know something intellectually; it's another to know it experientially. I didn't even connect the two until recently (and I'm 42 years old). The feeling I felt at every passport control, every bank, every post office was... shame. And I'm done with that.
The almighty system is also all-knowing and compassionate - at least to the citizens it purports to serve. It can't be wrong. And so the clerk facing me doesn't look at the *system* they're implement as wrong. They see *me* as wrong. And it shows an every look and every word.
Last week the smiling clerk became glassy eyed and kurt as she backed off and looked at me with a bit of fear. "I'm sorry, I have to take the next person now". Suddenly I wasn't a customer, I was a criminal.
And to think I lived a lifetime with this being my *normal*. At some point, perhaps about a year ago, I started to see it as abnormal and demeaning. And my life changed since then.
Never compromise on your dignity. Never accept to be treated as less than a full human being.
