We’ve had a lot going on with our family over the past month or so, and as it is with any crisis, much paperwork is involved. As one of the folks helping us out was completing all his required paperwork, we quipped as we waited. The never ending pile of paperwork was likened to that bowl of spaghetti that never seems to end. We estimated the number of tree groves that must be re-planted after each delivery to be about three. But it was the technician who made the most poignant statement when he noted that he changes pens as often as he changes underwear, maybe more. That made me chuckle, then it caused a new realization. Not only does “red tape” use up trees, but it also uses up the plastics and inks used in the pens that we use to fill out the papers. Then there are the hours and hours of our lives lost to crossing t’s and dotting i’s, signing by the X and initialing this and that after reviewing and understanding paragraph after paragraph written on the stacks of paperwork.  But, in the grand scheme of things, when all is said and done, it is a necessary evil.