It is sometimes possible to overlook the obvious, even if it is knocking on your door as hard as it can. (Or in our case, ringing the doorbell.) In my last article, I described one of the ‘iron laws of bureaucracy’: Get enough people into the mix, and it’s almost a certainty that one of them will be out sick, on vacation, or – God forbid – sitting shiva when you’re in need of something to get done. All of which is true, but here in The Land these days, if someone is unavailable, the most likely explanation for your person’s absence unfortunately is ‘miluim’ – with no end in sight. Now that I’ve made this emendation, I can get down to the business of the day.

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Just imagine this scenario, which I imagine will set the stage for all the turmoil that follows. You’re traveling somewhere in The States without a care in the world, just trying to get from point A to B. All of a sudden, you’re in the middle of a super-sized traffic jam caused by a multi-car accident half a mile ahead of you. You can keep plowing ahead, figuring the road will clear at some point. Or….. you can get off the highway and, with a little ingenuity, get onto a four-lane road that will get you back on the same highway twenty or so miles ahead where there will be smooth sailing ahead. What you don’t realize is that you’ll be going past miles and miles of strip malls that have their own traffic problems. You’re not the only savvy traveler taking this detour, so there is more traffic ahead of you than the road can handle. There’s also all the cars and trucks coming out of the mall parking lots cutting in front of you, slowing you down even more. But the cherry on top of the cake is the traffic light in the middle of all this doing nothing but holding up traffic. Wait a minute, I think I see some police officers up ahead starting to direct traffic. Maybe that will help; otherwise we’ll be here forever.

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