Federal Employee Medical Retirement: The Quiet Walks of Einstein and Godel

The name of the former evokes an immediacy of recognition coupled with awe; of the giant in physics and intellectual greatness beyond ordinary excellence. The latter is lesser known, but within esoteric circles of academia, particularly in mathematics, of equal stature in accomplishment familiar in his chosen field; of the intellectually formidable Incompleteness Theorem.

The two knew each other, and enjoyed the company of one another. They took long walks together. One wonders what Einstein and Godel spoke about. Of theoretical constructs and intellectual exercises so beyond the capacity of common people, that a mere snippet of eavesdropping would explode the mundane mind’s limited ability to comprehend. But, just as likely, they may have conversed about ordinary events, of wars and rumors of wars; of cars, classics and carpeted hallways in your home and mine. It was a time of quietude; of solitude between two great minds; of ordinary walks by a pair of extraordinary men.

Such paths of convergence enlivens one’s imagination, of what was, and could have been. And for lesser minds (which includes all of us), the need for a quiet walk is a human desire. Yet, despite his brilliance, Godel suffered, and suffered greatly. Perhaps the proportionality of greatness and suffering is to be expected.

For Federal and Postal Workers who suffer from a medical condition, it does one well to pause as to the lessons which can be learned: from suffering; of the need to find a respite from such human turmoil; of finding a path; and of friendships forged. Often, when a medical condition explodes upon the horizon of one’s life, it is important to find a pathway out of one’s traumatic microcosm.  Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether one is under FERS or CSRS, allows for a rehabilitative period for the Federal and Postal Worker — if only to begin a second vocation in the private sector after a partial recovery from the medical condition which cut short one’s chosen Federal or Postal career.

All Federal Disability Retirement applications are ultimately filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and in order to qualify, one must prove by a preponderance of the evidence one’s eligibility for the benefit. And in attaining the benefit of Federal Disability Retirement, perhaps the focus of the Federal Disability Retirement annuitant can turn to a less troublesome walk down a path of solitary quietude. Or, if one is lucky, to find a soul mate, as Einstein and Godel surely were to each other, to enjoy the conversations which life’s moments of friendship and warmth are meant to embrace.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Disability Retirement for Federal Workers: For What Do We Expend Our Lives?

Expenditures can be extracted in a monetary sense; but one can also expend effort, emotions and cognitive exertion, too.  We think too narrowly in terms of financial gain or loss, but in every transaction, there is a cost to be paid in terms of human extraction.

The ultimate question, then, within the context of so much busyness and activity, comes down to a fundamental issue:  For what reason?

Heidegger sought always the question of Being, and noted that most of human activity is merely an excuse to avoid the ultimate issue of our own mortality, and the question posed herein is a close cousin of such a foundational inquiry.  Is it for a momentary respite of quietude?  Is it for a flash of a manic moment?  Does happiness constitute a pause in an otherwise dreary existence?  Is it all worth it to receive a hug from one’s child, or a kind word from a stranger, or the warmth of tongue from a puppy asking for your attention?

There is poetry in life, and moments of incremental advances of worthwhile sketches;  but if one merely lives for the negation of X, then one should consider a change in direction or course.  For example, if happiness is defined by a temporary escape from pain, then one’s life is bundled up by the negation of a negative (remember one’s math days — of two negatives equalling a positive?).

For Federal and Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition, such that life has become a treadmill of daily pain and medical turmoil, and where weekends and days off are merely expended to recover from the weeks and months of physical trials, it may be time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS.

For what does one live?  Surely not for the condescending feedback from a bureaucracy or agency; it must be for more than that.  Otherwise, the price paid far exceeds the benefit received. Federal Disability Retirement is an option available for all Federal and Postal employees who have at least 18 months of Federal Service.

Let not life be a question of avoiding one’s mortality; or, for that matter, to allow for life’s expenditures to exceed the value of the product purchased.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

 

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: The Respite

Then there is the story of the office worker who was called in to discuss certain matters with the boss, and during the course of the conversation, boasted proudly that he had not taken a vacation in five years, thereby intimating his commitment and dedication to the company.

The boss became silent, shook his head gravely, and promptly fired the man on the spot.  In shock and dismay, the young office worker asked in exasperation why the boss would do such a thing, and the older man replied:  “Two reasons.  First, you need a vacation.  Now you have one.  Second, the company cannot afford to keep someone who fails to understand the needs of a human being.”  And so the irony of the young office worker reveals the self-contradiction of so many circumstances.

For the Federal and Postal Worker who suffers from a medical condition, the one truism which stands out is that those who are beset with a progressively deteriorating medical condition, can never take a “vacation” from the condition itself.  Thus, for those who are healthy, we often take for granted our state of existence.

Federal Disability Retirement from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, allows for the Federal or Postal Worker to have a period of respite, away from those very work activities which continue to exacerbate and compound the problem of the medical condition itself.

It may be that, in the end, there is little or no choice in the matter.

For, either the work will continue to suffer and the Federal agency or Postal Service will terminate the Federal or Postal worker, or the medical condition itself will dictate the terms of work cessation.  In either event, thought should be given to the future, and to a time of recuperative distancing from an activity which cannot continue forever.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Disability Retirement for Federal Workers: Personal Looming Clouds

On a bright, sunny day, it is precisely those looming clouds which interrupt the enjoyment of a constancy of warmth; and when it is merely a temporary darkness, where a floating wisp will darken the skies but for a brief moment, it is merely an irritation, a lazy thought where desire and comfort are merely awaiting such passing of momentary time.  But when the looming cloud remains, and others gather, the discomfort turns to a chronicity of dismay, and it is time to change the venue of one’s position.

The deciding point of filing for Federal disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS, from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is a determination often based upon a “quality of life” state of being.  Temporary discomfort, like a sporadic, looming cloud, which merely creates an irritation, is a bearable state of existence on the spectrum of that which constitutes the entirety of one’s qualitative state of life.

When that spectrum becomes dominated by a chronic state of irritation, where “irritation” has become transformed into a state where the brief respite from pain, or clarity and acuity of mind, is the exception rather than the rule, then it is time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

OPM disability retirement allows the Federal or Postal worker to have the requisite time to recover and recuperate from one’s medical condition, then to seek out a second vocation in life — one which will not continue to deteriorate and exacerbate the medical condition.  Discovering where one is on the spectrum of the qualitative scale of existence is an important first step towards making that all-important decision — one which may have lifelong reverberating consequences, if one waits too long.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: Respite and Reflection

Sometimes, it is a positive thing to have a period of respite, in order to engage in a reflective mode of thought.  The “to-do list” is always extensive and pressing; the need to advance, to accomplish, and to complete the pending projects is always in the foreground; but a period of respite and reflection — a pause in the action of life — is a welcomed break.

For those Federal and Postal employees who are contemplating filing for disability retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, it is often merely an extra day in which to recuperate one’s energies in order to go back to work.  If the Federal or Postal employee finds that the period of a few days off are merely a palliative form of treatment in order to drag one’s self back to the identical state of affairs at one’s Federal position — whether because of chronic pain, or profound, overwhelming fatigue; or perhaps an intractable state of cognitive decline and depression — it is probably time to think about filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.

One can “fight the good fight” only for so long.

At some point, the coalescence of the medical condition, the limitation of human capacity, and the self-destructiveness of continuing in a position which is detrimental to one’s health, will come to fruition.  Preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, is perhaps what one should reflect upon during the respite of life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
OPM Medical Retirement Attorney