Today I applied for my first passport. It was exciting to think that now I have a personalized ticket to anywhere; all I need is the money to get from here to there. The clerk at the post office was very friendly and we had a good camaraderie going on, until I realized he was taking my birth certificate and shipping it away before I got the passport in hand. This is my original, keep in mind. He wouldn't make a copy and wouldn't return it to me before I left the building. Friendly feelings vanished as I realized for the next several weeks I wouldn't be able to prove my existence should something unmentionable happen.
As he reassured me that the USPS would take great care of my precious belongings, I calmed down enough to rationalize it to myself. They do this countless times per day. My one little birth certificate will be looked after with care and returned back to me with hardly more than a crease. Think it, say it, believe it...right?
