Ain’t That A VHIT
By Von C. Howard
There’s a certain irony in working in spaces designed to serve people yet finding ourselves trapped by the very processes that were meant to protect them. It’s that moment when compassion meets compliance, and compliance wins. When the urgency to act is stalled by the need to authorize, to verify, to sign off. And so, we wait. Not because we don’t care, but because “the paper” hasn’t cleared.
You see, paper, whether literal or digital, has become both our shield and our shackle. It’s how we document, justify, and, let’s be honest, CYA (cover your “a..”ctions). Policies, approvals, and procurement pathways are supposed to safeguard fairness and accountability. But sometimes, they strangle momentum, leaving good people stuck in the thick of red tape while the people we’re supposed to help continue waiting.
It’s a frustrating place to be, when your heart says move, but the system says wait. When you have a solution in hand, but a signature stands in the way. And what makes it worse is that the intention behind the rules isn’t wrong. Accountability matters. Documentation matters. But when the process becomes so burdensome that it paralyzes progress, it forces you to ask: who are we really protecting?
We’ve all seen it happen: a community in need, a family waiting for relief, a project delayed over one missing form or an unclear approval chain. Sometimes it feels like the machine that was built to serve the people has forgotten that the people come first. And in that gap between paperwork and purpose, frustration festers.
Yet even in that frustration, there is hope. Because frustration is often the birthplace of reform. It forces us to rethink how we work, not just what we do. It challenges leaders to streamline, to trust, and to remember that while the paper may record our actions, people record our impact.
So yes, paper prevents production, until we decide that efficiency and empathy can coexist. Until we choose to be brave enough to ask, “How can we do this better?”
Maybe the next authorization won’t just be a signature on a form, but a sign that we’ve learned to balance order with urgency, and policy with purpose.
Because at the end of the day, the true measure of service isn’t how perfect the paperwork is, it’s how many lives we were able to touch while the ink was still drying.
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” — 1 Corinthians 14:40 But let them also be done in time.
