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(Somewhat embarrassed looking man standing at the front of the room) "My name is Michael and I read the Unsubstantiated Fabricated Information Queen!"
(Group of people seated in a collection of rickety mismatched folding chairs) "Hello Michael"
Sometimes I think we need a kind of meeting process to better understand why we are so willing to make ourselves even more miserable in this waiting situation. Way back when we were at the end of this long line, we did not know how long it really was, it kind of went down the block away and around the corner and out of sight, and we were somewhat ignorant and happy in our ignorance. On the various forums we joined, there was always speculation about the next batch and when it would be issued, and how many LIDs would be covered. Time crept along, we turned that corner and discovered the line ahead of us appeared to stretch far away and maybe take another turn.
There emerged a source, no matter how dubious, who seemed to offer some kind of inside information, and served as sort of tawdry clearinghouse for bits of information about the process. In time this has grown to gain a kind of questionable legitimacy, whether deserved or not.
Yes, I follow that source, a kind of guilty habit, rather like perusing the tabloids in the checkout lane to see the latest "Alien Baby Pilots UFO For Air Force At Area 51" headlines. The most disturbing part of this phenomenon actually appears in the comments area where the readers take the most mundane bit of information and in short order turn it into a full blown panic situation. The recent removal of the status box is an excellent example of this. Within a few hours of the change, the assembled mob had created numerous dire scenarios of nefarious changes soon to happen in the CCAA offices, along with dragging out several old rumors and hoaxes that had long since been discredited.
There was a time when I looked at that source and got depressed by what I saw there. Now it's more amusement and exasperation at how otherwise rational (I assume) people can can go so completely insane over trivial matters. I have begun to suspect that some of the greatest instigators may be scoundrels who are not in this process at all.
"Ignorance is bliss" comes to mind quite often. In part, the problem is a cultural one, we in the western cultures have become accustomed to relatively open exchanges of information, and now we are dealing with a different culture and a bureaucratic structure where information is a commodity to be controlled and rationed. And, we are struggling with it.
Many of us here are awaiting what may be the most profoundly life changing event we will ever have, holding our first child in our arms! In this context, the emotion saturated atmosphere is inevitable and understandable. Time, and the passing of generations has changed the way we view adoption. Never really shameful, but usually unmentioned, adoption has come into the open. I am sure most of us have droned on and on to family, friends and random strangers about our experience and the process just as we would about a long awaited pregnancy. Another thing that was not talked about in the past.
We humans are a strange lot, we create the bogeyman under the bed, tell tales about things that go bump in night, and weave stories about the sounds and the glowing eyes just beyond the light of the campfire. Seldom are we able to relax and wait for events to unfold as they must and in their proper time. We seem to be a species that loves to marinate itself in anguish, fear and frustration.
I once heard a story about a blacksmith who occasionally appeared to intentionally hit his thumb with the hammer, setting off a string of expletives better not included here. When confronted about this, he finally admitted it was true. Why then do you do it? "Because it feel so good when I stop" was the reply.
That's all I have, please excuse me as I must go put some ice on my thumb,
Michael