to the same counter woman they previously had. She was positioned at the end of the counter, and easily accessible to them without their breaking through the lines of people. And besides, this young woman had been very pleasant and now already familiar with their case. The supervisor wouldn’t be able to do them much harm they reasoned, because they had already been admitted to the country.
“As another customer left the young woman’s wicket, the Lawtons approached and handed her the slip from the man upstairs to whom she had sent them. She bent down beneath her counter momentarily, came up with the necessary papers, and began to give a brief commentary on them as she passed them one by one to Durwin. There were several papers.
“As Durwin held some of the papers in his hand, and the young woman held some in her hand, still commenting on them, the supervisor came roaring over again.
“‘What are you back here for now?’ she snapped showing much hostility on her face.
“The young woman protested, ‘they have come to pick up such and such sets of papers.’
“Durwin chimed in sternly. ‘Look Lady, Mr. so and so has approved our temporary admission to this country, and told us to pick up these papers here.’
“The supervisor snatched the remaining papers out of the young woman’s hand, throwing them out across the counter as she snarled, ‘take your papers and see where they’ll get you.’ Most of the papers fell to the floor at Durwin’s feet. While he stooped down to pick them up, Canda attempted to gather the few papers remaining on the counter. The angry supervisor snatched them out of Canda’s hands and threw them down to the floor where Durwin was stooping to pick up the others. Some of them fell over his head. Durwin patiently gathered them all together. Then he and Canda, ignoring the supervisor, thanked the young woman for her helpfulness. She looked at them kindly, tilting her head sideways in affection, then immediately called the next person in line.
“The Lawtons walked away in near shock. ‘Is this what it means to be an immigrant in the land of opportunity?’ Canda remarked to Durwin.
“‘We have to come back to the same counter with these completed papers,’ responded Durwin. ‘We are in for a hard time, I do believe.’
Making an interlude in the story, Collin said to the support group, “Incidentally, some years later, when Durwin told this actual experience to a Christian person in a responsible position, that person said that such a thing could only happen in a communist or third world country. He wouldn’t believe the story.”
“I guess that Christian person had never read in newspapers or heard on television how employees of another North American government department were ruining peoples lives. News of it was widespread in the media.
“To quote one of them:
“Nationwide, IRS abuses are the product of a badly dysfunctional agency, a seemingly totalitarian financial regime where bullying personalities can find a place to exercise unbridled power over peoples lives. As tearful witnesses testified to the Senate, that power wielded arbitrarily, has destroyed businesses and broken up families. In other cases, taxpayers have been unjustly imprisoned-even driven to suicide.” (NEWSWEEK, 251 West 57th St, New York, NY 10019, Page 34, October 13, 1997)
The cover of that same issue of the magazine read: “Inside the IRS, Lawless, Abusive, and Out of Control.”
“That system was eventually fool-proofed somewhat so that the employees couldn’t do such things to people. However, what motivated them to do it in the first place was their wayward characters; seeking power and control over people even to the point of destroying them.
“Then there are the stories on various media about government prosecuting attorneys concealing evidence from defense attorneys so as to secure a conviction in the interests of promoting their own career; and sending innocent victims to prison for life to do it.
“All it takes to have such things happening in any democratic country is a sizable number of its people of such wayward character as living for self alone. In such a life, they use self as the measuring stick by which to measure what is allowed and what is not allowed, what should be and should not be, what is good and what is not good. They let no higher being, God or human, guide their standards. If someone else is a cut above them, then to them that is wrong, and that someone has to be put down or destroyed. Such selfish, self-centered mind-sets as that cause numerous and diverse problems in society. The Lawtons’ experience with immigration is only one manifestation of many similar and related problems.
“The woman supervisor in the Immigration Department, in her treatment of the Lawtons wouldn’t even let herself be guided by the laws of the government she worked for. The Lawtons pricked her pride. So being governed first and foremost by self, she decided that since the Lawtons were too much for her and therefore upset her wayward undisciplined pride, which in turn stirred her envy, hatred and hostility, they had, according to her, to leave the country. She did not use the laws of her country as the criteria for admitting or dismissing the Lawtons, but rather, her own self-centeredness. Self was the ruling criteria for her.”
Adding further, Collin said, “Christians are not meant to be like the ostrich with its head buried in the sand not knowing what is going on around it. Christians are supposed to be tuned in to what is going on in the world, and working to make it better. Durwin told some other of his experiences to the same Christian person. He did not believe these either. However, the experiences of Durwin Lawton I am relating to you are true and factual, as hard as they may be to believe.
“Furthermore, one of the main defenses of belittlers is to deny that such a thing would be done by them or in their country. When they are riled up enough, power and control belittlers do some brazenly ridiculous things that most people wouldn’t believe if they heard it. They have already outwardly established their own public image, as phony as it may be, and dare their victims to openly accuse them of what they have done to you. Then they will flatly deny it and accuse you of doing wrong things to them by accusing them falsely.
“So wake up Mr. Christian. Either you really are like an ostrich with your head in the sand, or, you are supporting the evil of belittlers by trying to cover up their dirty work. Either way you are wrong.
Returning to the story, Collin remarked to the support group, “You will notice I mentioned that the hard-boiled supervisor was older, and the woman at the wicket younger. This is not meant to indicate that belittlers are older people and younger people are not belittlers. That is not so. There are many belittlers among both old and young. This case does indicate, as the story will bear out, that there was a whole segment of belittlers approximately the same age throughout this vast office complex. Obviously they have been working together for years, and you will later see how they work together as, ‘a conspiracy of sorts’ as I call it, to put fine people down.
“When the Lawtons went home that day, they almost immediately went over the papers and list of requirements, which they found to be identical to those they had prepared on their visit to Terraprima approximately two months earlier. A complete medical report including X-ray not more than three months old was required for each of them. The Lawtons had this on hand on the required forms from their initial contact with immigration. They decided to fill out the remaining new papers, putting the present date and address on them, and go back into the city next morning. They aimed at being there seven o’clock to be in line early for the seven thirty office opening.
“Arriving at the planned time, they found the lines to be already hundreds of people long. They would have to stand in line a long time, which they did. At the end of this line they would be issued tickets which would give them entrance to a large waiting room on another floor, where the procedure
