Federal Disability Retirement Benefits: Edifying false gods

Are falsity and nonexistence equivalent concepts?  If you believe in something that cannot be proven, but nevertheless turns out to not exist but yet cannot be verified with certitude or confirmed validity, is it a “false” belief?  Conversely, if there is general recognition, acknowledgment and consensus of agreement that embracing a certain paradigm is an act of futility precisely because it is deemed to be “false”, but doing so provides a semblance and feeling of comfort and security, does such submission to falsity encompass any substantive differentiation from a mistaken but unsubstantiated belief?

The inane nature of believing in “false gods”, of course, has taken its own absurd turn of nonsensical meaninglessness.  We have now made of moral equivalence idol-worshiping of mundane objects, events and activities, such that the charge itself is so widespread as to no longer have any relative relationship with ‘sacrilege’ or sin of a mortal nature, leaving aside being merely a venial sin of inconsequential punishment of deeds or beliefs.  Whether edifying false gods or nonexistent ones, the point nowadays is to make sure that it isn’t something that will harm one’s self.

Throughout history, people have always harbored secret beliefs, whether of superstitious and nonsensically held ones that resulted in no or little harm (unless, of course, eccentricity and bizarre, somewhat out-of-the-ordinary behavior was engaged in under the watchful eyes of innocent children who ratted out on witchcraft and sorcery counter to the religious decorum of the town’s ruling class), and such discourse of irrationality and lack of methodological reasoning were acceptable so long as self-harm or interruption of another’s peace and tranquility were not engaged.

In modernity, edifying false gods has been accepted, if only because liberty, freedom and free will have all been conflated to confuse and deify the self, the ego and the echoes of rebelling against the traditionalism of past ages.  We love to tear things down, to defy the past and unravel the historicity of yesterday’s constraints.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who have been too readily praying at the altar of “the mission of the agency” or the importance of the Postal work by volume and time, all at the expense of edifying the false gods of immortality, invincibility and loyalty to a function which has no end, the wages paid are often the deterioration of one’s health.

Preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is often the only way to step away from the altar of workplace madness, and the recognition of edifying false gods is often accomplished only by realizing that no gods, false, nonexistent or malevolent, are worth the price of one’s health.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Disability Retirement: Eluding becoming a cliche

What do we fear most, in life?  Is it to become maimed; to die a horrible death; to be left homeless, without family and bankrupt?  Or, is the greater and more realistic one, that of being relegated to irrelevance?

Of what does it gain a person to attain the pinnacle of wealth, power and prosperity, if the rest of the world scoffs, laughs and rejects with a dismissive nod barely acknowledging one’s existence or appearance?  Is it not that which we strive throughout our lives – not of accomplishing projects as a positive force of constructive advancement, but of eluding becoming a cliché?  “Oh, he’s not worth the time to even…”  Is that not the most fearsome of statements to mistakenly overhear from a friend or colleague whose opinion we value and cherish?

Imagine sitting in a café on a weekend (or, in this country, it would likely be a Starbucks or some similar venue), and you are partially hidden or obscured by a pillar-post, quietly enjoying your latte or some other foreign-sounding drink that is essentially a cauldron of admixtures involving sugar and this-or-that extract; the door opens and the brief chill of the outside atmosphere is allowed in; an order is given, and the voice emitted and uttered is a familiar one.

You turn around and recognize the familiar face, and begin to stand up to say hello, but think better of it because of an unknown companion accompanying the person, whom you neither know nor have any reason for suspicion of intent or motive, but because of the pause, that moment of comfort in giving salutations has passed, and now you try and hide behind the pillar for no good reason, except that you are steeped in the embarrassment of needing to hide, not even knowing why.

They sit out of sight, just around the corner from the post that guards your presence; you consider getting up, walking towards the entrance, and replay a scene you have already rehearsed in your own mind:  “Oh, Dave!  How are you?  Didn’t see you come in!”  Then, to quickly rush out so that the query about the companion would not be necessary to address.  Instead, you sit cowering behind the protective obstruction of this magnificent pillar, the stalwart of obstacles allowing for anonymity.

The conversation courses onward; tones undulating farther, closer, with clarity, with unmitigated boldness; and a sense that there is, indeed, something secretive in the subtleties of the spoken words.  Then, the pathway turns upon the familiarity of one’s own name, and the shuddering declaration from one whom you thought you respected, felt that you knew and considered to be a close confidante:  “Oh, he’s not worth wasting the time of day upon.”  Those many years of eluding becoming a cliché, swatted away like the irritant of a gnat or unwelcomed fly.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition requires filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, isn’t the reluctance to file often propelled by that silly wish to avoid becoming that dismissed person of insignificance?

In the end, what does one care whether others consider you a cliché?  For, it is never the opinion of relevance or significance as declared by others that matter; in the end, such declarations merely reflect the inner smallness of those who fail to consider the uniqueness of those so easily dismissed.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement from Civil Service: “Well, at least…”

Admittedly, any substantive insight into such a conceptual proverb used in everyday life is attributable to the eloquent thoughts of Yiyun Li, in her recently published collection of essays.  Such insights are so deliciously stated, with linguistic content so deftly conveyed, that the undersigned cannot refrain from grasping, grappling and attempting to add onto that which cannot be improved upon.

Well, at least plagiarism is no longer anything more than a forgivable sin, and not even a venial one at that.  The concept goes to the heart of comparing misery and quantifying misfortune.  When faced with a catastrophe, we minimize by comparative qualification:  Well, at least…  As if contrasting a lesser misfortune on a spectrum of possible calamities will pull the pendulum away from the pain and sorrow it has reached, and compel a more balanced perspective and diminish the weight of heartache.  Does such a diminution of personal failure by reducing it to a lesser quantity concurrently minimize the sorrow felt?

To a grieving parent whose oldest child has passed away, while sparing the lives of another sibling or two; Well, at least…  At what point does such an insight fail to achieve its goal?  Would it carry the same weight if 5 of 6 children perished?  Could you still get away with saying the same thing?  What if she is the lone survivor?  At what point on the spectrum of human calamity does such a statement retain any semblance of empathetic import and meaning?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of the positional duties occupied:  Well, at least he/she can file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits…

The fact is, for almost all Federal and Postal employees, that option is the last one they want to initiate; for, most Federal and Postal employees want to continue to maintain, extend and excel in their chosen careers.

In the instance of Federal and Postal employees, however, such a phrase has further significance, in the following manner:  the availability of an alternative in the event that all other avenues of choices become unavailable.  Thus, in such a context, it is not a quantification of sorrow or comparative analysis of choices presented; rather, for Federal employees and U.S. Postal Service workers, whether under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, it is a mere recognition that, in that unwanted event where a promising career needs to be cut short, there is at least the option of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, to be filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.  Well, at least…

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire