Burden to Society

I'm going down to the post office tomorrow to renew my passport. It's so funny to look back at the one I have now, which was long ago expired! I got it in December of 1988 - I was 15. In the Summer of 1989 was when I went to Europe with the Diamond Bar High School choir and performed in an international music festival and then toured several European countries. I look SO young in my picture...and so 80s!!

A week or so ago I went on the U.S. Department of State website and completed the passport application, gathered all of my supporting documents to prove my citizenship and located the nearest post office that accepts passport applications. It so official. I did have one dilemma though - about whether or not I should lie to the government. There's a question on the application that asks if you've ever had a US passport before, which I answered 'yes'. Then it asks if you still have it in your possession, but includes a note that if you do still have it, you will have to surrender it at the time you apply for the new passport. I don't want to surrender it. My passport with my cute 15 year old picture, and my stamps from my European adventure! How could they make me give that back? What if I promise not to sell it to terrorists? So then I was going to lie and say that I didn't have it in my possession anymore. But then they ask you why you don't - did you lose it, was it damaged, etc. So I decided to tell the truth, because I honestly do not need to stir up some sort of government inquiry into the alleged "loss" of my passport!! So, I'll make copies of my few little foreign stamps and stick it with my photo album.

Now comes the part on the application that cracked me up. In the upper right corner of the application, in the "For Office Use Only" section, there's a line stating when the form expires and some other weird codes and then there's a line that says "Estimated Burden: 85 minutes". Well isn't it nice to know that I'm only an 85 minute burden to the government! I wonder what it takes to become a 90 minute burden, or a 120 minute burden! Could I be less of a burden? Is there something about my application that, if changed, would make me only a 60 minute burden? And isn't it the government's job to serve me? Isn't that why I pay taxes? I think they should change the form to read "Estimated Privilege", because, after all, it is a privilege to serve me!!