I got my certified copy of my birth certificate in the mail today. It arrived in the self-addressed, stamped envelope I provided. I opened it and realized it isn’t actually a copy of my birth certificate, its a standard form with the blanks filled out by somebody with a typewriter, signed by a stamp, and passed somewhere in the vicinity of the official seal.
I believe that computers are taking over way too many of the functions that should be performed by people. When I pick up the phone to call a business, I want to talk to person, not punch buttons to get the right (or wrong) recorded message. I detest it when I go to the librarian to ask for assistance and she directs me to the stupid kiosk with the computer terminal to get the help I need. But in this case, I think I would be better of if they injected a computer into the situation.
A computer reproduces the information it has. It doesn’t make stuff up as it goes along. The clerk got my name, date of birth, and sex right. That’s about it. They have my parents’ place of residence in California, 2,874 miles away from where I was born in Massachusetts. Neat trick. And, no, they were not on vacation. They have my mother’s place of birth as a very tiny town in the Sierra Nevadas. My mom was born in Los Angeles. They also added 3 E’s and two N’s to her middle name and threw in all the other letters wherever they felt like it. The seal is embossed so lightly that a person who reads braille would have a hard time telling it was there.
Chuck and I talked about it. We figure the chances of getting it rectified quickly and accurately are slim. I think the only reason this copy got to me was because I addressed the envelope myself. Since the information about me is correct, we’re going to take it by the passport office and see if it will fly. I’ll keep you posted.
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