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Lost in bureaucracy She could be anyone's mother; everyone's grandmother. Yet, she belongs to no one. She's very much alone. We don't know what circumstances put her there. Perhaps it was the death of a husband who was her primary caretaker in this world. Maybe a son or daughter has moved away, unaware of her fragile mental state and desperate need. Perhaps her once bright and noble mind has simply grown tired with age, leaving her staring at a lingering memory, visible to her aging eyes and mind only. She's been sitting in the waiting room of the Department of Social Services in Hauppauge since March, we were told. She comes every morning, carrying two pillowcases filled with the remnants of her lost life. Her white hair is neatly combed, and there is the sense that at one time someone close was able to treat her better. But that was then, and this is today. Today, she sits, hour after hour, huddled in a corner of the DSS office. She speaks to no one, and few venture to speak to her. She rarely gets up for a drink or something to eat if she knows how. She has come every morning for three months via taxi finding this a haven from the cold, the rain, and now the heat. It's a place where caseworkers say she can stay but they can do nothing more for her. And so, she sits. Her head nods, as if her neck is just too tired to hold it up any longer. She regains control, then nods again. This time her muscles give out and her chin falls into her chest. For a few precious minutes she finds some solace in sleep. But it doesn't last long. She awakens with a start and looks off into the distance, squinting to find that memory again. It is not there. Her head nods. It nods again and the ritual begins anew. By 3:30, when the office is closing, someone calls a taxi and she is taken to a shelter, the best, we've been told that DSS can do for her.
What her circumstances are, we honestly don't know. We do know this, however. In the twilight of her years, she deserves some red tape being cut or special circumstances made. Some person willing to ensure she is adequately protected and fed and housed should come forward; someone concerned that she is cared for as if she were their mother or grandmother; as if she were a human being deserving of better.
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