A lot has happened; a lot is happening. I’ve been keeping busy with things, but it’s time to write another post. Several events remind me of past experiences, or things that happened with my family members.

The administration is looking at removing citizenship from people who became American citizens after they were born – and the reason for removing citizenship seems to be rather petty in some cases. I was reading about one woman who came to the country at a very young age and apparently overstayed her visa. When she was not even a teenager. Now, she may be facing deportation except no country claims her.

I’m reminded of my grandfather, who was born outside the United States because that’s where his parents were living at the time. They were American, and he was naturalized. I remember my mom telling me during the second World War he carried his naturalization papers with him everywhere in case someone questioned him. He was born in Japan, and we were at war with them. The odd thing is, I don’t think he could have ever claimed Japanese citizenship because his parents were American, regardless of being born there.

We’re heading into a longer period of chaos, I fear, after passage of a bill through both houses of Congress. There doesn’t seem to be anything good about it for most people. It’s going to be a long, long process to see what happens and what can be done to fix it, if anything. One of the pieces of the legislation vastly increased the desired size of the organization that takes the lead in rounding up and removing people the government doesn’t want living in this country anymore.

My mind pulls up memories in very odd ways, and I remembered an organization where I worked that got created pretty hastily and fell apart even more quickly. Someone had the great idea to consolidate everybody who worked on communications technology into the same organization. If you wanted them to do some work for your client you borrowed them. Part of borrowing them meant paying an hourly rate that was built up with all of the support costs for their new organization – including very nice bonuses for their leadership.

This organization left a bad taste in mouth from day one, because they took over some office space I sat in, and I had to move out. No problem – pack everything up and I need to be out by Monday. On Friday, I went in to gather the last bit of things to find every desk in the space turned over on its side and pushed together. I had to go around and open drawers to find the one that had been mine and rescue the rest of my belongings. Give them whatever they want and don’t complain was the directive.

It wasn’t until their crazy hourly rates made the company non-competitive on several proposals we lost that leadership was bothered. They were gone in about a month.

Hasty to create, hasty to fall. Except there are people all over this picture. People hired to expand the organization handling deportations, people being swept up in hasty operations. Damage all over, potentially with awful consequences. I worry, and I cry a little at what might come. Things can be too big.