Thank God for civil servants

I’ve made my share of jokes about civil servants who don’t seem to be working hard. My grandfather, a very quiet and non-judgemental man, started me off thinking about this. We were driving down County Road G near Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, and some employees of the township were repairing the road. Grandpa pulled over and said (out of his window) to Herb, one of the workers and Grandpa’s long-time acquaintance: “Herb, you have a sign on the road back a bit that tells a lie.” When Herb looked puzzled Grandpa said in a deadpan, wry voice: “The sign says MEN WORKING, but I see you just leaning on your shovel.”

Road workers nowadays in my area of B.C. are almost all employees of companies that have maintenance contracts; the switch to contracted-out maintenance was supposed to save a lot of money but the only study I found showed absolutely no savings from contracting-out. We’re more likely to run into civil servants in government office buildings in the town of Smithers.

I could tell you stories about civil service office workers who don’t seem to be able to help me with my inquiries and problems. But I could also tell you lots of others.

The biologist who patiently answers my questions about why Round Lake fishing is so poor (it’s a eutrophic lake) and who points out the efforts made to improve it by stocking bigger fingerlings of a more aggressive trout species to compete with the non-game species.

The agrologist who helped another friend (a farmer) with the application process to gain a grant for improved machinery and who solicits advice from me even though I am anything but a “full-time” farmer.

The retired government biologist who donates a great deal of her time to helping with environmental improvements in the area.

The area highway supervisor who saw to it that a road maintenance problem was dealt with by the contractor after I called about it.

The health workers who provide care for my friends and me!

The teachers who encourage students to learn from us oldsters in a continuing education program at the local public school (and thanks us with homemade jams and jellies!).

The aides for political representatives who direct us to resources, schedule appointments with the MLAs and MPs, and who take notes on our concerns so they are dealt with.

The local mayor and village/town council members who basically donate their time and talents to the functioning of their communities – they receive at most a pittance.

Deserving of respect

I could go on. While all the people in my examples are not perhaps technically civil servants, they all are supported through taxation in one way or another. And they don’t lean on shovels. They are people who deserve respect for their work in systems where often they are prevented by computerization, down-sizing and a sort of bureaucratic emasculation from taking direct action themselves to help fellow-citizens.

What prompted my thoughts was a statement by Elon Musk in the USA in which he stated that “Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Public sector employees did.” That’s not only a lie but a cheap shot from a person who has been harming people in his businesses and pseudo-governmental actions by summarily dismissing them and insulting their competence.

I suppose you could say that Elon Musk did me a service, however. His dishonest nastiness prompted me to rethink how I am often not thankful for the many people in government sector employment who make my life better. Thank God for them. I hope Herb wasn’t hurt too badly by Grandpa’s comment. Herb was actually waiting for a gravel truck to arrive, so he could fill in a pothole.