True Stories Of The American Dream From the Hearts and Minds Of Real Americans Part V
June 5th 2009 13:12
The act of compassion begins with full attention, just as rapport does. You have to really see the person. If you see the person, then naturally, empathy arises. If you tune into the other person, you feel with them. If empathy arises, and if that person is in dire need, then empathic concern can come. You want to help them, and then that begins a compassionate act. So I'd say that compassion begins with attention.
~Daniel Goleman
~Daniel Goleman
In a society built on laws to protect minorities from the strength of mob rule; it will take more than the stroke of a pen from a Governor or President for us to truly get it right.
When it comes to fighting injustice along gender and racial lines, with the public using the basic rights given to them in the United States Constitution, we have always been a nation of fighters.
Unrest in the streets of America forced the hand of our national leaders into seeing the error of their simplistic thought based around popular opinion rather than interpretation of the Constitution.
A woman is no longer thought of as less than a man and men and women of every color can now be judged for the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.
We’ve celebrated landmarks based around these victories for equality but have forgotten about other injustices that exist in our society.
Injustices that go beyond the obvious ignorance of a person being discriminated against because of what is seen at first glance in the aspects of race or gender but rather the injustice of our society caring more about profits and production over the sacrifices made by our fellow men and women who gave all that they had in body and soul in service to our country.
It’s easy for us to celebrate landmark holidays like Memorial Day and Veterans Day but when it comes to application of this appreciation in corporate America our major corporations are missing the mark.
My story begins with the toughest decision I have ever made in my life…
My decision to enlist in the United States Army was based around the need to share my educational talents in service with the country that has given me so much.
I joined the United States Army in July 2006 as a Reservist with the hope of possibly creating a career for myself and a better life.
In October 2006 I suffered an injury on a live fire course to which I still suffer from pain on a daily basis.
After “toughing” it out through various activities including a 15k road march and a 3 ½ mile run, I graduated from basic combat training on one leg.
Months later my injury was diagnosed as a Stress Fracture.
After a litany of tests of being poked, prodded and having my body filled with radioactive substances the Doctor’s ran out of solutions when my injury appeared healed through machines and graphs but I was still feeling devastating pain from standing.
A year and a half after I enlisted,I was released from training without a Medical Evaluation Board and sent back to my unit who released me without recourse.
Thanks to the support of family I was able to receive the amenities to survive because the job market was unfriendly to my plight.
Without documentation or a disability rating from Veterans Affairs or the United States Army and only my word I searched for job after job that was willing to work with my disability.
In this time I grew frustrated, contacted my Congressman for a Medical Evaluation Board and applied for Veterans Affairs benefits.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Veterans Affairs system or any system within our government I believe the term a snail’s pace would be a proper analogy.
After 10 months of family support and funds running low from all ends I finally took the first job offered to me regardless of the amount of daily pain it would put me in.
The name of this Car Leasing company will be important in the follow up to this blog but let’s refer to them as Company A for now…
During the application process with Company A, I alerted them of my disposition and the terms of sitting when I had to sit to relieve pain which was agreed to by the Human Resources Department.
During my employment tenure I received a disability rating from Veterans Affairs based on nothing more than the documents the Army decided not to file on my behalf to give me a proper release.
Even with the low rating I was still considered a disabled Veteran and asked to be moved to a position of low impact.
To this I was greeted with a response of nothing being available and was basically told that I had the decision to either quit and not be eligible for unemployment or work on a daily basis with pain.
I worked long and hard for this company between the months of November 2008 through January 2009.
My tenure of nightly pain from stressing my injury and biting my lip with limited options came to a close with a slip and fall on a glaze of ice in the parking lot on a run to pick up a customer.
My injury now included not being able to sit for periods of time as well as my diagnosed disability that prevented me from standing.
If any of you have dealt with the system of workman’s compensation I’m sure you’ll understand when I say that the system is flawed but for a disabled Veteran multiply this thought by twenty.
Instead of dealing with the situation head on I was put on leave for 30 days which was followed by 90 days with monthly doctor’s appointments that determined whether or not I was fit to work.
I was once again put through the litany of tests as men and women “smarter” than the rest of us came to the same conclusions as before in stating that there was definitely something wrong with me but nothing was showing up through their tests.
Left without any conclusions the determination of keeping me away from work while they did tests turned into light duty.
In the workman’s comp world light duty does not reflect on injuries a person may or may not have had before working for said company nor does it reflect on current injuries, currently being in pain or have any common sense translation in the real world.
A person who has a diagnosed injury from service in the military stating that he should not be standing for periods of time can be asked to alternate sitting and standing for 55 hours a week even though the new injury he incurred working for said company prohibits him from sitting for periods of time without pain.
A doctor can write instructions for an injury to avoid all aggravation but can be forced to give a quick yes or no answer as far as the patient’s ability to return to work and being able to do the full functions of said job because he did not find anything on a graph or scan.
Our society has lost common sense when it comes to making gut decisions to benefit the employee rather than the corporate bottom line.
If there are no legal ramifications for these companies to abide by; these very same corporations we trust, rely on for our daily amenities and serve as the back bone for our economy would gladly stomp on the people we should hold in the highest reverence and gratitude to preserve profit.
When I come on here from week to week and expound on different issues of government failure and societal strife I am sometimes accused of being negative.
With life experiences of direct corruption, people not doing their job and the loss of common sense I have no choice to but to bring out the realities of life for those Americans who will follow in the footsteps of my experience.
The bottom line in all of this is within the fact that we have to find a better way for our Veterans.
The Federal Government has wonderful programs for our Veterans who choose a career service that is determined by Veterans Affairs disability rating.
In the civilian world it comes down to a system of every man or woman for themselves and the disabled become victims of a corrupt system.
This is the only the beginning of my story as I plan to pen a letter to the son of the founder of Company A.
Upon receiving a response from this son of a veteran, that inherited a company built with reverence to military service, I will expound on company names and post final thoughts on my situation…
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