Moving Past Reasons
We’ve set forth our reasons. We believe others will accept them. They’re valid reasons and they’ve been presented in good faith. Yet others have not been persuaded. We seek an explanation. Rational arguments versus irrational arguments. A rational argument is based on truth; an irrational argument is based on falsity. But both types of arguments, […]
Behind the Scenes
To help another person. What does “help” actually mean? How does one help someone? Assist? Guide? Be of support? Teach? Counsel? The simple fact: most helpers do not help. We surely intend well, but our efforts fall short. What’s the reason? Well, let us count the ways. We unwittingly work at cross purposes to another’s […]
Reality vs. Appearance of Reality
An attempted yet failed solution to a problem is not harmless. Particularly in the legal, social, or political realms, you have not only the initial problem, but you have a failed solution to the problem which adds complexity, an added variable, to that which previously existed. Now, those grappling with the problem in the future […]
It’s Time to Start Over
Transportation accidents, maritime accidents, aviation accidents––all within our society have the right to bring civil lawsuits to recover damages except one: those who serve in the Armed Forces. Our servicemen and women are prohibited from filing civil actions against the United States in Federal Court for accidental injury or wrongful death if such occurs within […]
Washing the Floor…With Gasoline
The problem with just about any set of facts is that it quickly becomes complex, resistant to being easily encapsulated. The gasoline station was managed by Elward Hudson, who, approximately one year before the accident, leased the station and certain equipment from the Defendant. One of the duties assigned to the Plaintiff by Hudson was […]
Pain and Prayer
Can pain be modulated by prayer? Some, perhaps many, will immediately reach for the words “placebo effect” and leave the matter at that. Others have investigated the phenomenon. Belief in something greater, something infinitely larger and more powerful––there’s more to this than can be easily explained. It has to do with tapping into a power […]
Transition States
A transition state––that sinister and mysterious realm between what’s occurring and what’s about to occur––requires no small degree of scrutiny and attention. We too often ignore our transition states, taking them for granted. Sleep into wakefulness; the change of seasons; the movement from day into night, from youth into old age, from life into death––we […]
Advocacy and Accuracy
“‘Tis a forgotten maxim that ‘accuracy is essential to beauty,’” wrote Emerson in his Journals. Being accurate is not something that’s typically recognized or celebrated, but over time it comes to have great value, separating those most capable. What’s a good working definition of accuracy? Webster defines accuracy as “the quality or state of being […]
Whiplash and the Ascending Reticular Activating System
It’s probably a safe generalization to assert that whiplash injuries caused by rear-end car accidents are typically undervalued. No matter what symptoms the patient presents with the diagnosis is misleadingly termed a “soft tissue” injury that “should resolve completely in six to eight weeks.” A new and growing body of medical literature sheds light on […]
Recognizing Secondary Trauma
In recent years, a growing body of medical literature has established that severe trauma to one family member can result in a phenomenon known as “secondary traumatization”––post-traumatic symptoms exhibited by the other family members, particularly children, of those harmed. “During the past few decades, studies have shown that individuals in the trauma survivor’s close proximity […]
