OPM Medical Retirement: The noisy neighborhood

It is the collective organism reflecting the individual, somewhat like the tripartite division of Plato’s theory of the soul; the neighborhood, filled with noises differentiated by weekdays, Fridays and weekends, reflects the character of the separate families who congregate to make up the entirety.  And, like Plato’s argument against appearances versus the reality of the essence of a thing, the façade of a neighborhood – the architectural structures, the number of bedrooms in each, the style of the roofs and the slope, […] Read More …

Federal Disability Retirement: The tentative step

This is a tough and dangerous world. No longer a Hobbesian State of Nature nor of War, the Social Contract as envisioned by Locke or Rousseau provides some nominal protection, and thus do we identify ourselves as “civilized” entities in yet a dystopian universe where a greater majority of the rest of the world acts with unconcerned insanity by engaging in senseless wars of mass killings and genocidal encounters. In such a world, we thoughtlessly bring newborns who must contend with an uncertain future, fraught with challenges unasked for and conflicts yet to be encountered. […] Read More …

Medical Retirement from Federal Employment: The din of distant darkness

There are often foreboding signs which we conveniently ignore. In retrospect, how often do we hear of the lament of disregard? “I never thought…”; “I heard the sound, but –“; “There were some indications, but I just assumed…” Yet, later, we recognize those telltale footprints, and wonder why the creaking floorboards or the muffled murmur did not raise the cautionary instincts repressed by urge of avoidance. If we were paid a dollar for every instance where… […] Read More …

OPM Disability Benefits: Fatigue of Life

There is clearly a distinction to be made between the general fatigue which life blows upon us all; like the child left to play outside in days of yore, and comes back with the grime of healthy dirtiness, the imperceptible layers of life’s hardships cover everyone, like the light dusting of snow overnight revealed in the morning dawn of a winter’s day. But the profound fatigue which overtakes one from the daily battle against an incapacitating medical condition, is a difference which cannot always be adequately described, if ever. […] Read More …