My friend’s wife passed away recently. A beautiful life gone too soon. As he now settles in to deal with his grief and figure out next steps, the system is throwing him one curve ball, after another.
The bills don’t stop coming.
He must, however, wait sixty days for the life insurance policy to mature. And the social security administration made him wait, a week, to collect a check for $255. That is not a typographical error. An individual who worked for over thirty years, when deceased, is entitled to a one time benefit of a couple of hundred bucks. Score one for the government.
More than the money, I think he was caught off guard by the general lack of sympathy for his plight, as he got buried in bureaucratic paperwork. It is sad that we get so desensitized to loss, specially in the death business. Everyone wants a piece of the action at a time when people are most vulnerable. The message is simple — just pay up, and wait your turn.
Whatever happened to a touch of compassion, a dose of empathy, and a sprinkle of humanity?
About Hemant Rustogi