what is the government

I currently work in a public affairs office at the national branch of a government agency; thus I get phone calls from people all over the United States every day asking questions about government policy. But not only do I get questions about government policy, I get personal stories about peoples’ lives and suggestions about how to run the government because it isn’t doing its job. To this last group of callers I represent the government and all its failures.

Many people call my office because they are going through tough times and need the assistance of my agency, others call because they found the phone number in an old book somewhere and it said “Washington D.C.” for office location. People call saying, “yes is this Washington D.C.? Yea, you need to tell your secretary, and your president about...” etc. I’m thinking to myself, “okay sir, I’ll let Barack know when we share our afternoon granola bar.”

But the president and I don’t share a granola bar in the afternoons. And I’m not a place, or a government. I am a person working for the government.

Are they the same thing? What in the world is the government? I’m a fed – I have a badge, I take a vanpool from a nearby suburb into the city for work every day, I handle government forms, obey government regulation; and yet the government is still a big mystery to me. What in the world is everybody doing around here?

Pushing around billions of dollars everyday. That’s a lot of dollars. As I sit on a bench on the national lawn and watch all kinds of people walk by in their business attire, I wonder what they do in their offices, who they meet with in conference rooms and how much money they are in charge of.