OPM Disability Retirement: The Walking Anomaly

The identity of a person is represented by a composite of memories held, present activities engaged, and future endeavors planned, thus bringing into a complex presence the times of past, present and anticipated future. It is because of this walking anomaly — of not just an entity living in the present, but of someone who possesses the retentive capacity of memories past, and plans made and being generated for future actions — that the complexity of the human condition can never be […] Read More …

Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: The Flux

Life must of necessity involve change; otherwise, the definition of its corollary occurs, or at a minimum, a deadened spirit. But the tripartite self-contradiction of life, death, and the security of habituated changelessness entraps us all: In youth, the excitement of constant flux energizes; in later life, the unwelcome changes and interruption of daily routine leads to turmoil; […] Read More …

Disability Retirement for Federal Workers: What Was It All For?

In the midst of a crisis, when the security of the mundane is replaced by the turmoil of fears, “what ifs”, pain, intrusive nightmares, suicidal ideations, profound fatigue, and the uncertainty of one’s future, questions begin to haunt and abound, enveloping decisions of past moments […] Read More …

The Admixture of Incremental Deterioration of Health Conditions While on Federal Employment

Destruction rarely comes as a sudden, tumultuous event; that is why tornadoes and hurricanes are noteworthy news items. Instead, it is the slow rot of incremental deterioration which represents the commonplace thread of destroying lives, sort of like […] Read More …

CSRS & FERS Medical Disability Retirement: The Universe of the Possible (Part II of II)

When avenues are closed off, the human psyche tends to shut down; and when grounds manifest fertile regeneration and bountiful splendor, the endless state of the possible opens like the gaping eyes of a child in excitable wonderment. That is why internet companies […] Read More …

Postal and Federal Disability Retirement: Precipices, Edges and Flat Earths

When the earth was believed to be flat, to venture out beyond the known and navigable waters was deemed to foolishly challenge an inevitable fate; and to reach the precipice and totter carelessly at the edge is to defy and challenge the gods of fate, as Macbeth does […] Read More …

CSRS & FERS Medical Disability Retirement: Stuck in Time

Each of us embraces an era, a period, a slice of time with which we relate to, have fond remembrances of, or for whatever quirky reasons, possess an affinity or attachment to. Perhaps it is the Fifties, with its stodgy reputation for conventionalism; or the radicalization […] Read More …

OPM Disability Retirement: The Pre-planned Life

Planning is part of our culture; from birth, to plan for old age; from the first entrance into a career, to consider the options for retirement funding; from the days of schooling, to determine the course of one’s career; and multiple intermediate pre-planning […] Read More …

Federal Employee Medical Retirement: Apparent Normalcy

One can venture and maneuver through this world with a semblance of normalcy, where from all outside perspectives, a person is untroubled and unencumbered. There are multiple complexities inherent in such a perspective, of course: what constitutes “normal”; […] Read More …

Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: Memories

Memories induce a peculiar phenomena; by expunging them, we can perhaps sidestep sadness and loss. With them, we are left with a lasting image of who we were, who we are, and who we have become, with a hope for recovery when we have lost our “place in society”. […] Read More …