FERS Disability: hawaii civilian personnel with disabling conditions

FERS Medical Retirement: Judgment and Discretion

July 26, 2019

In many ways, the two are inseparable; for, to make good judgments is to necessarily have the proper discretionary approach, and to possess the quality of discretion is the foundation for making good judgments. It is discretion which allows for good judgment; good judgment that is dependent upon discretion. To lack discretion, however, does not mean that one will necessarily make a bad judgment; but then, as the old saying goes, even a broken clock is “right” twice in a 24 hour period. […]

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: Higher and lesser standards

October 26, 2018

Does anyone ever go into something, engage an activity, begin a project or initiate a hobby thinking that a “lesser standard” would be acceptable? Or, is the “higher standard” always the option preferred? — and if we fall somewhat short of the goal intended, isn’t it better to strive towards that height of vaunted “unreachable-ness” like the lesser angels who try and climb up the ladder to heaven but fall short because of the misgivings of sins committed or blemishes of imperfections left unchanged? […]

Medical Retirement under FERS & CSRS: Reference points

December 13, 2017

They are the connections by which a society maintains a fabric of commonality, whether by myths, narrations of stories handed down, religious knowledge or books and movies. It used to be that the “Good Book” was the mainstay of the reference points, so that when a person referred to having “eaten the apple”, for a simple example, one immediately knew that the reference points between a sin committed […]

Lawyer Representation for Federal Disability Retirement Claims: The image we hold

August 19, 2017

What picture do we carry? No, not in one’s pocket or wallet, but in the eye of one’s mind. Is it one that has been frozen in time; an imprint from a bygone era, a specific day in one’s past where childhood memories once floated upon a cloud of dreams and wishes? Or, is it of more recent vintage – wrapped in layers of cynicism and denied opportunities, huddled in a corner where bitterness, wrongs and outrages of blames […]

Federal Disability Retirement: The traveling troubadour and trobairitz

July 5, 2016

There are vocations and careers which once were, and now forgotten. Life cycles in endless streams of dying embers and regeneration of growth; and like the mythical Phoenix which arises from the ashes of destruction, so we tend to romanticize that which once was, is now forever lost in the forgotten residues of concealed fingerprints in timeless memories once secluded but dissipated as storytellers no longer found an audience for tales left untold, and children turned to self-amusement with videos, technological blank stares, and smartphones which glow well into the night. […]

OPM Disability Retirement from Federal Employment: Far-Flung Universes

September 30, 2015

Each generation tells a generic story reflective of the times; and thus did the Great Depression era produce movies and epics with undertones of escapism from the harsh realities of life; of the 60s, the fear of nuclear holocaust and the confrontation of the Cold War; of the following decade revealing the hesitation for technology and its pervasive intrusion into the privacy of our lives; and so on, so the anxiety, fear and loathing goes. […]

Federal Disability Retirement: Value & Worth

January 19, 2015

The two are often intertwined; what is of value is considered something of worth, and that which has an ascribed worth, is viewed as a thing of value. If an objective, marketplace standard is applied, then the value of X may be disconnected from the worth of X; for, while X may retain little or no monetary value, the worth of the object to an individual may still endure (for sentimental reasons, emotional attachment, etc.). Where human beings are considered, however, exceptions as to the inextricable conceptual intermingling of value and worth must prevail; but there again, […]

Retiring from Federal Service with OPM Disability Retirement: Happy Puppy

December 12, 2014

Overused words lose their intended efficacy. Perhaps the point of decay came about when the (unnamed) fast-food company decided to combine the word with the term, “meal”, and thereafter kids, grandkids and celebrity popularization effectively killed the last semblance of meaning. But when watching the exuberance exhibited by a puppy, where commonplace activities are engaged in with reactive and unbounded energy, it is appropriate and meaningful to compound the two, and ascribe the descriptively emotive, “happy puppy“. Whether it is the latter term which enlivens the former, or vice versa, […]