Op-Ed News has changed dramatically since I was a regular contributor on this site. However, that was quite a few years ago. There are a lot of new members and some of the readerships do not know who I am or why I have been silent for so long. For the past four years, life has been hell in a handbasket, and four or five months ago, I was close to dead and had an extended stay in a hospital. I have never been one to repeat what I have already written, so I'll begin by posting a comment I made on another site. This is an issue that affected me all the way down to my soul, and it ruined life as I knew it -- and my desire to keep living at the height of my disease's worst side-effects:
"Yep, blame it on the parents. As a father that had to turn in his Twin Sons for a murder approximately four years ago, I understand exactly what the parents went through. It was likely the hardest decision they ever made in their lives, especially with bigots such as yourself that are so quick to "blame it on the parents." My twin sons were 31 years old when they committed an atrocity beyond my belief and comprehension. Admittedly, I was no angel myself in my younger years. However, all three of my sons were taught me that life was sacrosanct - and unless your life or your family were in imminent danger, it was NEVER acceptable to take someone else's life.
Parents teach their children as best they can. People, including 13-year olds, are individuals, and whereas the decision they make may not coincide with their parents teachings, why is it that people like you are so quick to blame the parents? Are you that perfect - and your children? At first, the town where I lived in also blamed me too, and believe me, turning in your own sons for a heinous crime is a decision that is unimaginable. Even though you abhor what they did, it is without any doubt or question the hardest decision any parent can ever be faced with and then retain his/her own sanity.
I was diagnosed with a severe case of PTSD over what happened within my family, lost everything I had, and five months ago, almost lost my own life along with a woman I loved more than anything in this world. The decision to turn-in your own children for violent crimes is devastating to those parents, especially if it results in their incarceration for life without parole and other associated sentences. You will have to excuse me for attacking you head on - but you are wrong and lack the common decency and empathy to even begin to grasp what those parents went through. "Judge not lest you be judged." Try to find some empathy and compassion in your heart rather than judging others." Parents make right decision when 13-year-old confesses to robbery
As you can see from the above comment I made, I take great offense when parents are blamed for the actions of their children, especially when they have been taught all of their lives to do otherwise. What happened was not my fault, but it took years to understand and quit blaming myself and making decisions that bordered on the absurd. When I did write, I wrote out of anger and pain; my life had been turned upside down, and so had my state of mind. Whoever resided within me was not the man who was there before this incident occurred.
I was immersed in confusion, anger, and hopelessness that caused me to lose everything I owned. I hit rock bottom several months ago when I lost my fiancee and was hospitalized for almost a solid month. In a fit of uncontrolled anger, I walked approximately thirty-five miles in fifteen hours with a backpack that contained what little of my belongings I could carry. I did not hydrate myself correctly, failed to eat, and developed a severe case of RABO and a severe sunstroke. I collapsed on a street in Alpharetta, Georgia, almost dead and unaware of what I had unintentionally done to my body:
"Rhabdomyolysis is a serious syndrome due to a direct or indirect muscle injury. It results from the death of muscle fibers and release of their contents into the bloodstream. This can lead to complications such as renal (kidney) failure. This occurs when the kidneys cannot remove waste and concentrated urine. In rare cases, rhabdomyolysis can even cause death. However, prompt treatment often brings a good outcome. Here's what you need to know about rhabdomyolysis." LINK
My urine was the color of Coca-Cola. My blood chemistry was out of balance to the point I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I was angry, I removed myself from a situation that would have become deadly if I stayed, and in my state of anger and rage I forgot all I had learned in the Scouts, Army, and other times I participated in extreme challenges to my body and soul. I was in extremely serious condition, however, with my blood chemistry in disarray, nothing made sense except a twisted understanding of myself being rushed to a hospital. Even that experience was surreal and garbled. In short, I was told a week later that if I had not been in excellent condition before I started my hike, it is unlikely I would have survived. There was some question that if I did survive, what remained might not have been worth keeping alive. I found this gem out several days later.
While I was in the hospital, I experienced pain on a level that I thought would drive me insane. Imagine tearing every muscle in your lower body, shoulders, and back, all at one time. My muscles were breaking down and entering my blood stream and I was ill far beyond my comprehension. In short, I was hospitalized for over a month. I knew that I had to finish revising and editing my book, somehow get my Fiancee' back, however, had no idea how to tackle either task. I did know that a healthy mind can only co-exist with a healthy body. The struggle and pain of rebuilding muscle all over my body was excruciating. The pain was my solace at times, reminding me that I had other tasks to complete. It took an entire month to regain my mental composure and, at the end of that month I could only function at twenty to twenty-five percent of my previous capability. I began to believe that my temper and indifference to my safety had compromised the quality of the rest of my life. I did not want to accept such a putrid prognosis for my future. I believe in dying with dignity, and if I couldn't live as I wanted, I saw no sense in living at all. On top of everything else, extreme depression was taking its toll, and my body does not fare well with anti-depressants.
I have always been a survivor, even as a child. I became homeless, and through the fog of uncertainty, I put all of my eggs in one bucket and took a Taxi to a town in Winder before I made the mistake of moving to Marietta, GA. There was not a bed for me, but there was a roof over my head, and even though I bought groceries, I found myself unable to eat. Food tasted like cardboard and I was not thirsty. I rested on a loveseat for a week and a half, and after that, I started thinking again. I began walking everywhere I went, and I made excuses to go places that were further away from home each time I left. Building up my muscles, just in my legs and buttocks, was an experience I would not levy upon my worst enemy. There was never any relief, and although I was making progress, it seemed like it was taking forever. Finally, my body was working fairly well again, but I struggled to write the easiest of copy; creativity had escaped me. I began to think that I would never regain my mental creativity and a rare talent to articulate myself on paper far easier than in conversation. I began to fall deeper into depression. Tina, my best friend, arranged for me to move far north so I could commute easily between South Carolina and Northern Georgia. I wanted to be alone and unfettered by any past experiences until I regained my mental faculties and the wherewithal to put my life back together again. One night, I saw a TV Series called, "Limitless." It was obviously fiction but remembered that some years earlier, there was a debate on a natural supplement that college kids were using to reach new energy levels, stay razor focused on any important task, and more importantly, also the ability to recover quickly from negativity. I did the research and began taking two products, one that worked miracles on your mind, and the other which was brand new that targeted DNA and cell reproduction.
I am back in control of my emotions, and the more I take the product designed to increase your mental capabilities, the better my writing gets. I stay on topic, and my memories are flooding back into my conscious mind. My focus is razor sharp and my wit and political acumen seem to be returning to levels that I can hardly describe as normal. In short, I am here to fight for what I have always believed in -- our Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and most of all, supporting a political candidate that embodies the American spirit. That statement alone indicates I am a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders, and hopefully, Elizabeth Warren as his running mate. I would even accept the ticket in reverse.
If you look at my Bio on Op-Ed News, please be advised that I have written far more articles than are credited to my account. I used different email addresses when times were hard and lost my passwords, and many of the articles I wrote so many years ago reside in the archives her on this site -- and several are plastered all over the Internet, which were also copied on other sites. Besides research and commenting on political matters, I also research and write a commentary on Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and their relationship to Climate Change.
My goal is to stay in the United States until the 2016 Presidential Elections. After that, I will be moving to another country that has a great health care system, gladly accepts American Expats, and my paltry Social Security Disability payments place me solidly in their Middle-Class. In short, as soon as I have saved enough money for the trip and to rebuild my belongings, I will retire and throw politics to the wind and the feeling I need to take a bath every time I delve too deeply into issues that affect the Average American. I turn 65 in November and I am not leaving because of fear or not having love for my country and fellow Americans. I am leaving because I am tired and most of all, I am poor here, and where I am going, I will be able to live out the rest of my days in comfort and dignity. My only regret is that I have to leave a nation I love to retire in dignity.
Look for biting political commentary from me, and a no-holds approach to anything and everything. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Thank you for your time, and now that we are reacquainted, let's work together to get Bernie Sanders elected as our next President! My first book, "The Creation of a Criminal" will be ready for publication in a couple of months. I will also be writing an Op-Ed on Nootropics, as I believe they can be used to treat PTSD. If my hypothesis is correct, it could be of use to hundreds of thousands of our veterans that are struggling with a disease that none of us fully understand, and that includes me, even though I suffer from it as well.
