Does the former have an advantage over the latter? Our tendency is to think so — as in, “Being a thoughtful person is better than being a thoughtless person. And, in any event, it is always better to think about things than not to.”
Really? Does reality bear such a thought out, and does thinking about something as opposed to its opposite — not thinking about it — gain any advantage? Does Man’s biological advancement through evolutionary selectivity of genetic dominance necessarily favor those who engage in the activity of “thinking” over those who do not?
Take the following hypothetical: An individual must make a “serious” decision — i.e., perhaps about one’s future, career, marriage, etc. He is told to “take some time to think about it”, and does so dutifully. He speaks with others; does some reading; mulls over and “reflects” upon the issue; takes out a yellow-pad and writes the columns, “Pros” and “Cons”, and after days, weeks, perhaps even months, comes to a decision. Within a couple of years of making the decision, he realizes that he has made a fatal error.
Now, the counterexample: Same scenario, but in response, the individual says, “Naw, I don’t need to think about it. I just go on what my gut tells me.” He goes out, parties, avoids “thinking” about it, and the next morning makes that “important” decision. He remains happy with the decision made for the remainder of his life. So, the obvious query: What advantage did one have over the other, and what fruitful outcome resulted from “thought” versus “thoughtlessness”?
Yet, we persistently hear the phrase, “I should have thought about it,” or “I should have given it more thought” — always implying that, had further reflection been accorded, had additional wisdom been sought, or multiples of contemplation allowed, ergo a different result would have been achieved.
The error in the logic of such thinking is that one assumes a necessary connection between “result” and the activity of “thinking”, when in fact it is the very activity itself which retains a value in and of itself. “Thought,” “thinking” and “thoughtfulness” are activities which have a value by themselves. The satisfaction of a result-oriented, retrospective according of value based upon an outcome achieved is to place the value upon the wrong end.
For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are “thinking” and engaging in “thoughts” about preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, there comes a time when a “decision” must be made. “Thoughtfulness” is an activity worth engaging in, regardless of the outcome of the activity itself.
In engaging such an activity, it may be worthwhile to seek the advice of an attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law — if only to consider the evolutionary advantages in thinking about thoughtful activities as opposed to the thoughtless decisions made by an unthinking thoughtlessness.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
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Federal Disability Retirement Application: Lost…
One’s age can be revealed as to whether, in the privacy of one’s thoughts, the ellipses is replaced with — “Lost in Space”, or even The Swiss Family Robinson. The former is a television series that ran between 1965 and 1968; the latter, a novel by Johann David Wyss published in 1812 that few of us read anymore. Another television series recalled from the dustbin of history’s classics; another novel and writer no longer read, remembered or studied.
They are stories about lost colonies, lost people, lost souls — lost individuals. The fact that they are “lost” is a phenomena that society finds interesting enough to retell the story about which we would never know, except that they were somehow “found” and were able to convey their experiences.
As a child, one remembers the self-contradiction of that very issue: the young, fertile mind queried (and never could get a satisfactory answer from anyone ): How come, if they are really lost, we’re able to watch them on television, or read about them? If they were found, then they aren’t lost, anymore, are they, and if so, why is it interesting or even relevant? Or, is it just of historical interest that we enjoy hearing about the experiences during the time of “being lost”?
The world today, of course, is different from the yesteryears of a bygone era; the world is all “connected”, such that there are no places in the world where we haven’t seen National Geographic photographs depicting of untraveled areas where the “lost peoples” of the universe reside and continue to survive. The Amazonian forests are being depleted through mindless mining and destruction; the Himalayan monks who once medicated in silence wear jeans and sandals while selling trinkets to wandering tourists; and the polar bears that once roamed the northern glaciers wander beneath the pipelines that stretch amidst the wilds once dominated by the wolves that sniffed with suspicion.
Today, we live amidst civilization’s constant drum of progress and technological connectivity; instead of being lost in the wilds of a universe still undiscovered, we remain lost amidst the communities in which we live.
For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition must by necessity lead one to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, there is a sense of “loss” and “being lost” in at least 2 ways: The “loss” of a career once held promising; and of being “lost” in the complex, administrative process in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits. In either sense of being lost, it is a good idea to consult with an attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law — if only to get a roadmap to help one find one’s bearings.
Being “lost” does not mean simply that one does not know where one is geographically; in fact, most people are lost even in the midst of being surrounded by the daily din of civilization; and that is why consulting with an attorney in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement is an important aspect in finding one’s way out of the morass of being lost.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
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