Early Retirement for Injured Federal Employees
Why are OPM’s denials of a Federal Disability Retirement application written “as if” it is an “all of nothing” proposition? Conversely, why does an approval of a Federal Disability Retirement application (with the exception of the single sentence which identifies the medical conditions upon which the approval is based) reflect a regurgitation of a template used on countless occasions dating back decades? […]
That’s the rub, isn’t it — that we spend so much energy trying to conceal it, that by the time the truth comes out, we don’t even care, anymore, and are often glad for the revelation and the blessing of not having to mask it any longer? Whatever the “it” is that we attempt to conceal, hide, ignore of otherwise fail to reveal, the fatigue of hiding it, the constant commerce engaged in bartering for more time, avoiding a direct encounter or otherwise trying desperately to veil the truth, leaves us exhausted and spent. […]
What does it mean to sacrifice? Is it a concept learned, or an act embraced during a moment of trial? If not learned, can it occur when two strangers meet, or do the circumstances, upbringing, genetic material inherited, etc., all make the difference? And of “learning” — can it be by osmosis, classroom lectures, or purely by observing and watching others engage in the act of sacrifice? […]
There are beliefs that are presumed to be true, if not merely conventional. Superstitious beliefs, so long as they do not interfere with daily activities and being productive, are acceptable; believing in the existence of aliens on other planets, for instance, or even that some have visited this planet, will not make a difference in the conduct of one’s life; on the other hand, if the same person believes that the alien is invisible and shadowing him wherever he goes, […]
It is the defining of life itself; of the spectrum across a wide range of peaks, valleys, proverbial mountaintops and chasms of tumults like a groan beneath the terrain of the earth. We attempt to avoid the latter and quantitatively expand the former, thinking that if we […]
We enter into a race; we finish in the bottom third. We take a course for advancement of learning; we barely pass the final exam. We often ask ourselves throughout the montage of life’s challenges: Is that the best we can do? Sometimes, the answer is a quiet but simple, “Yes”; at other points, perhaps it is a time for reassessment and revamping of the approach, the methodology, and even the key ingredients of who we are. Self-congratulatory utterances and inane emptiness of self-esteeming servitude has often been described as the enemy of modernity. […]
The surreal scene makes for eerie production spots for Science Fiction movies and end-of-world stories of apocalyptic tales — of men in white suits and bubble masks with breathing apparatus combing the countryside. But it is merely a spillage of hazardous material, and a team of men and women who specialize in cleaning the toxic chemicals was called in to manage, contain and clean. […]
The state of having an epistemological privilege in the first-person singular, means that we occupy a unique position of knowledge, cognition, perception and viewpoint. Concurrently, however, we must recognize and acknowledge that others have a similarly extraordinary vantage point, and that no matter how hard […]
The two concepts are often confused; for the Federal employee and the U.S. Postal Service worker filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, the frustration is often voiced precisely because of the misapplication of the legal import between them. Eligibility is determined by the contingencies which must be met, the thresholds of prerequisites which must be satisfied: […]