Early Retirement for Injured Federal Employees
The ordinary is in contrast to the extraordinary; the extraordinary, to the penultimate superlative; and perhaps one may go on to greater heights of adjectives, but the one which cannot be surpassed is that of “perfection”. Various perspectives depend upon the manner of how we approach life; on the one hand, the “ordinary” can be viewed as comfortable anonymity — of a self-satisfied status of neither shining beyond nor underwhelming those around, […]
Must it by necessity have a “religious” component? Devotion is an anachronistic concept – of individuals who have committed their lives to one involving (or devolving?) sacrifice and selflessness, where individual strivings for fame, wealth or power are forsaken and the plight of others is the focus of one’s resolve and vocation. Certainly, there are subcategories of such descriptions, […]
A woman sits on a park bench surrounded by the concrete giants of looming buildings and antiseptic structures overhanging and overshadowing all but the remnants of nature’s detritus, with the cooing pigeons that bob their heads back and forth as they meander about in the contrast between reality and poetry. And she has a book in her hands. It is a book of poetry. Who the author is; what the verses metaphorically narrate; how the images impact the quiet reader; these are not so important as the oxymoron of life’s misgivings […]
They were dark caverns of gatherings; residual consequences of colonialism; and though denied in polite society, the lure of addictive aroma wafting ever pervasively brought men and women repeatedly to the doors which opened for the pleasurable moment of escape. It was like going back, and staying, despite knowing the harm it did, […]
Private entities charge more; exclusive arenas tend to be out of reach; and it is, ultimately and as in all economic realities, determined by an admixture of supply (how many are allowed) and demand (how desirous is the goal of entrance and acceptance). For every admittance, there is a price to pay. Often, it is not merely the affirmative transfer of money or goods, but rather, the negative aspect of what one must “give up” in order to attain the end. It often involves a comparative analysis, an economic evaluation of gain versus loss, and in the end, the emptiness of the latter being overtaken by the value of the former. […]
Most of life’s events are characterized by coincidental stumbling; of chance meetings, of happening upon something that one is good at; or of taking on a job thinking that a couple of years of steady employment will allow for time while one tries to “find your direction”, as if compasses determined by magnetic fields will reveal the mysterious paths of life’s unsympathetic gaze. It is rare that one begins with a purposive mind, commits to it, shows a continuum of unwavering direction, and declares at the end that there was never a doubt throughout. […]
Plato noted the significance of the eyes; as windows of the soul, they reveal the depth of emotion, character, empathy, interest, boredom, meanness, etc.; and just as true, the lack thereof. Laughter provides the concordance of mirth to context; cacophony occurs when the harmony between the two somehow fails to connect. The pinnacle of sadness is represented when one looks upon an individual, hears the laughter, and sees the revelatory sadness deep within the eyes of the soul. […]