"...Can you lift your arm and make a movement like wearing a hat?"
"I told you, my hands and feet are very healthy."
"Can you please answer the question directly?"
"You have my health report too, can we talk directly about my heart?"
"Please don't express your opinion on the part other than the question. Do you have trouble talking to strangers?"
"Yes! I've always wanted to discuss my broken heart, but you've always been deaf!"
This is Blake, a stubborn old man with a serious heart condition.
Blake used to be a professional carpenter, but was judged unfit to continue working by a doctor after an illness. Therefore, when his wife had passed away and he had no children, Blake, who had no financial resources, was forced to apply for employment support allowance.
But in the process of applying, he faced a cumbersome and inefficient government system.
Although the doctor had issued a certificate, Blake's application was rejected because his condition did not meet the pre-set questions on the assessment form. But when Black wanted to appeal, he was told that he would have to wait for the decision maker to call to inform him of the outcome before he could move on to the next step, even though he had already received the letter.
"Why? Isn't it all decided? Could he change his mind?" Blake questioned.
"No, but you still have to wait for that call."
Unwilling to sit still, Blake tried to apply for Jobseeker's Allowance because customer service was reluctant to help him contact decision makers, and he could only get a "he'll call when he was free" response, but he still didn't meet the eligibility criteria. , because this allowance is only available to those who are able to work…
In the case that there was no way for both sides to ask for help, Blake had to ask the manager to provide him with relevant forms so that he could file a complaint. Unexpectedly, the manager not only did not serve him, but asked him to apply online himself.
"Because the process is like that," the manager said.
"Listen, if you give me a piece of land, I can build a house, but I've never touched a computer in my life..."
After being tossed for so long, Blake didn't know what to do, but even if Blake revealed a signal for help, the manager just reiterated that if he didn't make an appointment, he would have to leave immediately.
Blake held his head and stood silently in the same place. At this time, the kind staff Ann noticed his abnormality and asked him to sit down and rest.
Just as Blake eased his discomfort, a single mother had a conflict with another female employee - the female employee repeatedly said that she had to abide by the rules. When there was no way to communicate, the single mother tried to explain the ins and outs to the manager, thinking that the manager would understand, but in the end the manager just treated her in the same way as Blake.
"The clerk is right, we have our own rules here, and you are obligated to follow them."
At this moment, Blake on the side finally couldn't stand it any longer and helped to speak. However, his help was only made worse by the manager, and both of them were eventually kicked out.
After chatting, Blake learned that the single mother moved here from far away because she was kicked out by the landlord. Since they were kicked out, she took her two children to live in a one-room economic house for two full years, and finally waited for this house.
"Don't they give you a set closer to your family?"
"No, there's no way in London, they want to get rid of everyone in our situation."
Single mothers seem to have come to terms with the fact that the government is not kind to them. But no matter how hard her situation was, she also showed her determination in the conversation to work hard to complete her studies, albeit at a distance education university.
"You can't give up, can you?" said the single mother.
Perhaps it was because they also suffered from the government's loss, or perhaps it was because they were both from the end of the world, so after that meeting, Blake took the initiative to do repair work for single mothers and help take care of the children in his spare time.
But Blake still has the government.
He first went to the library to borrow a computer. With the help of the staff and a few enthusiastic young people, he finally knew how to operate the mouse and input method. Use time for nothing.
After that, when no one was paying attention, Blake secretly went to the employment service center to find the kind staff member last time. With Ann's help, everything went smoothly until after the supervisor found them, Ann was called into the office forcefully, and the supervisor even reprimanded her for breaking the rules for her kindness. In the end, Blake's application form could not be handed in.
In the end, it was Blake who asked his neighbor, the black guy China, to finally get those application forms. And it was only at that time that Blake knew that the civil servants could actually give him these documents on the spot, but they were unwilling to do such an easy thing for him.
"You have to be careful, that's how they are. They won't give up unless they make you desperate. I know that several people gave up their appeal in the end."
"If they thought I was going to give up, they were so wrong!" Blake put on his reading glasses. "I'm not going to let my bite go away."
But even after filling out the appeal form, customer service insisted that Black would have to wait until the decision maker called before he could appeal. Even if he knew that Blake had no income, no living allowance, and had to pay rent, the other party just told Blake that he would record for him, but there was no guarantee how long it would take the decision maker to call. Black, on the other hand, was forced to attend resume training classes and sign up to spend thirty-five hours a week looking for work in order to apply for a job search allowance.
In his spare time looking for a job, Blake accompanies single mothers to food pantries. But when she was receiving the rations, the single mother lost her head because of hunger. She couldn't help opening the can and poured it into her hand to eat. When she recovered, she could only keep apologizing with tears in her eyes. The strong sense of shame made her Ashamed to face Blake's concern.
"I can't handle it, I can't stand it anymore." Seeing her daughter next to her, the single mother burst into tears again.
"You're already great, it's not your fault, there's nothing to be ashamed of." Blake kept reassuring single mothers while stressing that everything would be fine.
After so much, the decision makers finally called, but only once again, repeating the irreversible results. While Blake was worrying about the bills, someone called to say they wanted to hire Blake, and things seemed to turn around.
But when Blake honestly told the other party that he couldn't work, and that he only submitted his resume to apply for a stipend, Blake was scolded, and before he could explain, the other party hung up the phone.
Later, when Blake finally completed the thirty-five-hour job search record, he was questioned that there was no evidence that he had actually looked for a job. Blake, who is not very good at using a computer and still uses an old mobile phone, can only prove himself, only the pen used to write resumes, but even if Blake has tried his best to do what they asked, in the end he only got one sentence from the staff: "It's not good enough." He even threatened to write a recommendation letter for the food pantry for him if he didn't cooperate well.
And this cold-blooded clerk is the female clerk who drove the single mother away.
So, in order to survive, Blake can only sell all the furniture, but even if he sells all his belongings, the money he gets in the end is far less than the amount of the bill. But when the neighbor boy found out about his abnormality, he still insisted that he was just tired of the furniture and wanted to replace it with a new one.
Blake is like this. No matter how many setbacks he has experienced, he has never been defeated by them. Facing these unreasonable treatment, his emotions are at most angry or helpless. But when he found out that single mothers practiced themselves for the sake of their children and life, he shed tears of sadness for the first time.
He told the single mother that he had made a new bookcase in the hope that she would not give up... But this time, the single mother wiped away her tears and said to Blake:
"I've saved £300 so I can buy fresh fruit for the kids."
In the past, she would be ashamed of her starvation gaffe, but now, in the face of the pressure of reality, she has long been unable to take care of her dignity.
"Once a person loses his self-esteem, he has nothing to look forward to."
Therefore, the last straw that broke Blake was not those complicated procedures, nor those civil servants who ate vegetarian meals, but he witnessed a good girl, a girl who once had dreams and goals, but because she couldn't get it With the help of society, they can only be forced into depravity in the end.
Sadly, these outcomes were never up to them to choose.
So Blake stopped struggling and didn't want to continue to work hard. Outside the wall of the service center, he wrote these big words with spray paint:
"I, Daniel Black, demand that my appeal date be known before I die of starvation, and that the ghost music waiting on the phone be replaced."
For a time, Blake became everyone's hero, and the crowd applauded and applauded. Blake was taken to the police station under the cheers of everyone.
Fortunately, Black only got a warning this time, no jail time, and no previous convictions, but his luck was not enough for him to survive the day when his appeal was successful.
He was only one step away from the last step, and he smiled at the single mother who came with him a second ago and said:
"It's strange to see my fate in their hands like this."
But in the end he left, and the cause of death was a heart attack.
Blake's funeral was scheduled for nine o'clock because that was the cheapest time.
The single mother read for Blake the speech he was supposed to deliver at the time of the appeal.
"...I'm a human, not a dog, so I'm going to defend my rights and I want you to respect me," he said.
Blake was a good citizen who obeyed the law and obeyed the law. He did not steal or rob and paid taxes seriously, but even though he spent his whole life fulfilling his responsibilities as a citizen, he could not be exchanged for equal treatment by the government. Ironically not ?
So, if one day, I become "Black", I hope that by that time, there will be friends who are willing to give me warmth.
If one day, when I can only make the same choice as a single mother, I hope there will be such a "Black" that will remind me of my original persistence and those unfulfilled dreams.
If one day, I need to let the government know that I am a "human" and not a dog, I hope that at that time, more "Blacks" can stand up and help me.
If there is such a day, I hope we all don't become Black...
Because that is so sad.
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