Manns Medium

On November 13, 2008, I received a letter from the Commandant of the Marine Corps.  Now for those who might not know who that is or know that my prior life was served as a United States Marine from 1980 till 1991, the Commandant is the top executive in the Marines.  He is the guy who sets the policies, procedures and standards that all Marines must live by.  Getting that letter, made me first wonder why he was writing me and if the Marines had finally gotten around to issuing my overdue medals or was there another sinister meaning for this letter.  What I discovered after reading that letter would prove more devastating  than I could have known. The letter was actually from Major General E.G. Payne, Assistant Deputy Commandant, thanking me for taking part in a study  that was seeking to see if there was a link between individuals who had lived and worked at Camp LeJeune between 1957 and 1987 and the cancer causing toxins dumped in the drinking water. ...

We are often times inundated with nothing but what people does wrong and seldom hear of the small but significant victories.  This is one which sad to say, were not found in this nation’s news venues. According to an unknown author in an article titled US stem cell research funding ban lifted by court, retrieved from www.bbc.co.uk , “The US Court of Appeals in Washington ruled 2-1 on Friday that a 1996 US law against federal funding of embryo destruction was "ambiguous", and "did not prohibit funding a research project in which an ESC (embryonic stem cell) will be used".  This clears the way for more research into cures for such things as “treatments of spinal cord injuries and diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's”, while the opposition deserves nothing less than to be heard and their views respected, it should come as no surprise that in this case the majority did rule. Not every battle joined can be a “mission accomplished” but each and every ...

As a former United States Marine my heart goes out to my fellow marine and his family as profiled in this article by Kimberly Hefling of the Associated Press titled Veterans advocate kills self after war tours .   I can not claim to feel exactly what his family feels right now but I can say that any military member or uniformed person who loses their life through any means, especially a fellow marine, makes me feel empty because even though we may not share the same blood we do share something greater. The article read “ Clay Hunt so epitomized a vibrant Iraq veteran that he was chosen for a public service announcement reminding veterans that they aren't alone.   Hunt found an outlet to help improve the system by doing work with IAVA. He helped build bikes for Ride 2 Recovery and participated in long rides.   Using his military training, he went to Haiti several times and Chile once to help with the countries' earthquake relief efforts. He proudly told his parents of spl...

As parents many of us wish to explain and explainable action by our child and in so doing, we search and search.   During this search we sometimes come upon a good enough reason and if they reason could provide us an even slight excuse, we take it.   Could we be doing the same with autism? According to MSNBC there has been an increase of 57% in autism cases from 2002-2006.   The report said that there has been a 600% increase in the disorder and it affects 1 in 110 kids in America.   While this information is astounding it should not be so alarming that we do what we so often do and that is over-react.   We over-react like we did with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and began to prescribed medication for our children which today results in more than average amount of children, teens and young adults now hooked on some type of drug and rely solely on the medical community to solve their aches and pain instead of themselves.   We leave all of our health dec...

Nick Watt and Suzan Clarke’s article titled Cindy Jackson Sets World Record with 52 Plastic Surgeries, Cosmetic Procedures , is proof positive of why there is such a divide between the have and the have nots. The article reports that “Jackson, a Londoner who hails from the American Midwest, has had $100,000 in cosmetic, including 14 full-scale operations as well as cuts, pulls, peels and jabs. She's had Botox, five face-lifts and liposuction, and her eyes have been done – twice. In total, Jackson has had 52 cosmetic procedures, a world record for the most procedures ever undergone by one person” and while I am sure not many would begrudge her for spending her money on what she wishes, it begs to question why when so many of us are struggling to keep our homes and finding work. While in this day and age, $100,000 may not go far but I am sure many of us could think of far better ways to spend it than plastic surgeries and cosmetic procedures. Still it is her money and she should...

With so much going on in our lives, the number one cause of medical and health problems is stress.   Many of us may not have any idea where our next meal will come from nor do we know where we will be living from day to day.   We see our kids wishing something that we are not able to provide and it drives many of us insane to think that we can stop this pain that they are filling but we seem powerless to do so.   That’s the stress that keeps us up at night and make us strike out at those we care for the most.   Dealing with this stress may prove to be just one way we can make life just a little better for those around us. I came upon this idea when I was speaking to my fiancée about events that were taking place in her world.   She can be categorized as “high strung” but her heart is always in the right place.   She sometimes allows problems to stack up until she finds herself sick and that is not good for our children to see as well as endure along side h...

When I came across this article by Matthew Perrone, Associated Press Health Writer titled Medicare to pay for $93,000 prostate cancer drug , I was overwhelmed by not only the cost of the drug but also by the inhumanity of those who make this drug.  They are not inhuman to make it but they are inhuman to charge so much as if trying to put a price tag on life. The article reported that “Medicare officials said Wednesday that the program will pay the $93,000 cost of prostate cancer drug Provenge, an innovative therapy that typically gives men suffering from an incurable stage of the disease an extra four months to live.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said the biotech drug made by Dendreon Corp. is a "reasonable and necessary" medicine. The decision ensures that millions of men would be able to afford the drug through the government-backed health care coverage.”  Personally I think that is the best decision considering a life really does not have a price tag and no ...

There are certain things that may be able to count on during the winter time and one of them is the common cold.   It’s this anticipation of the influenza season that drugs stores all around the nation stock up on over-the-counter cold remedies and people flock to their local store to stock up especially if they have school age children.   This may no longer be an option. For some time now, my five and two year old have been struggling with what would be considered as the normal cold and flu but regardless of what medicine we gave them, it appeared to have very little if any affect.   They would get better but as soon as the temperature dropped or the wind blew from any direction, they would be sick again.   The numerous doctor visits made us feel even less of a parent because following the doctor orders to the letter did not return our children to the once happy-go-lucky troublemakers of the past.   We finally got tired of this consistent circle and decided to...

For years now, I have been trying to get a handle on my depression and even though I think I have it mostly figured out, it was recently discovered that the main cause of my depression comes from disappointment. It appears that when my hopes are the highest is when I sink the lowest when those expectations are not met.   It is no one’s fault and the only real way to change it has to come from within.   I had attempted to try and lower my expectations on what I wished to happen but still disappointment seems to have a mind of its own.   The toughest disappointment does not come from expectations that I have in others but from those expectations that I have for myself.   As much as I would like to find others to blame for this disappointment, the ultimate offender is me. As far back as I could remember I had always wanted to own my own business and when the day came that I did, it was like the heavens had opened up and I could hear the angels singing.   In the m...

Lately there has been stories that not only touched our heart strings like the unnecessary shooting spree of Jared Loughner in Tucson, Arizona where Dem Rep Gabby Gifford and so many others were injured, killed and traumatized but this story about the family practice doctor who murdered and injured so many in Philadelphia.   If we look closely enough though we can also see how one story can show us where we are lacking in other areas.   With the shooting in Tucson, we see that we are lacking in providing mental health services to the lowest and middle class families as well as the need for certain parts of limiting the amount of rounds magazines can carry.   With this story of the Pa doctor we are made aware of the need to include abortion coverage in the healthcare reform for this same group so that they can get proper medical care “The "Women's Medical Society" opened in 1979 and was inspected by the state Department of Health only sporadically. The last inspection was...

Life has a particular way of making some think about those with whom they may owe a debt.   Individuals like, their parents, their children, their mentors, their families and even their country but one person that we often forget is the debt that we owe ourselves.     We often forget this because many of us try our best not to be or even appear to be selfish and we feel that any attempts to re-pay ourselves will create that impression.   What we forget or often times refuse to acknowledge is in the Bible, Book of Matthew Chapter 7, paragraph 3 and 5 Jesus tells us “Why worry about a speck in the eye of your brother when you have a board in yours.” “Hypocrite, first get rid of the board.” “Then you can see to help your brother.”     Now who else knows more about our better angels and what is required to be the best that we can than the Son of God.   I was having a conversation with my second oldest son, Jermar yesterday.   I call him my son b...