At least I have my dog; at least we all have each other; at least it wasn’t a complete loss; at least I have my health…. Is it because of the base-line of life’s fortunes that we may maintain our sanity and allow for hope to thrive? And if we were to ever lose the “at least” — is that when life becomes too unbearable to withstand, or will we simply find another replacement “at least”?
Take the following hypothetical: A tornado or other natural disaster destroys a home; everything is lost; the person who survived stands with his or her dog and says to the reporter, “At least I survived”. The next moment, the survivor suffers a heart attack and is bedridden for the rest of his remaining days. Once the “at least” was taken away, was there a replacement? Is the final “at least” the one which goes thus: “At least I am still alive”? And when that is taken away and silence follows, is that the answer to the question: Is there anything beyond the last “at least”?
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 one’s job, the question of “at least” is an important one. For, when the medical condition strikes, the “at least” question is not: “At least I still have my health”, but might rather be, “At least I still have my job”.
It is the latter concern — when the medical condition begins to impact one’s ability and capacity to perform all of the essential elements of one’s job — that may lead to consideration in filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, ultimately leading to the further “at least” declaration: “At least I have my Federal Disability Retirement annuity.”
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
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OPM Disability Retirement: Faking it
We often judge the complexity and sophistication of a species by evaluating the extent of negative capacities. Thus are humans considered to be advanced creatures because of the capability of lying, subterfuge, dissimulation, pretense of behavior, and other such undesirable characteristics. But other species can “lie” as well, if one accepts faking matters and circumstances as constituting that sort of advancement of evolutionary behavior.
Predators can “act like” they are asleep, or even dead or noticeably unaware, in order to lure the prey into a somnolence of cautionary approach. Birds can mimicry others; and chameleons can adapt and change in order to engage in subterfuge. But the true test of sophisticated advancement is the ability to defy an inevitable reaction to a cause, and to simultaneously suppress it. As pain is a natural alarm system which the body necessitates a reaction to, so the act of concurrently concealing it requires an enormity of self-discipline rarely found in species other than in humans.
Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition engage in such subterfuge on a regular basis. Whether in attempting to extend one’s career for a period greater than self-interest, or of necessity to survive among the pack of hyenas comprised of Federal agencies, their cohorts and co-conspirators, the Federal and Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, faking it becomes a daily routine requiring self-containment and discipline of an extraordinary capacity.
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, is an avenue of relief where the threshold and intersection between concealment and level of pain can no longer be tolerated. It is the exit by which Federal and Postal employees find where once there was none. For, in the end, the predator wounded and laying in wait for the injurious cause to approach with lesser caution, in order for the prey to become the aggressor, the danger is that one may wait too long and bleed to death, and unknowingly reverse the intended fortunes of the day.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
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