Ravi

The Ravi Zacharias Scandal. This kills me.

I admired this man so much. My wife and I went twice to see him speak. Once in New Hampshire, once in New Jersey. I loved his vernacular, his intensity, his spiritual prowess. His ministry was global, and RZIM was perhaps the most revered apologetic ministry on the planet, packed with Godly people who could defend Christianity like nobody’s business. Ravi was a Man of God extraordinaire. Clearly he was anointed.

He was a sham.

Ravi’s words were excellent, and largely true. But he didn’t believe them. He wasn’t just ‘in sin,’ he exemplified sin in ways unimaginable to his brethren. In fact, very, very few people would ever be capable of sinning as he did. It would be beneath them. Sure, men have their desires. This is nothing new, and is far from shocking. If Ravi had an affair, (or even multiple affairs) that would be very disturbing, even shocking for those who thought they knew him. But no one knew him well. It is possible Ravi didn’t even know who he was, himself.

What I am addressing is the man. What most of us thought we knew, we knew not. He defiled himself, as he defiled others. (No one is in ‘the defiling business’ without being defiled by it). Ravi – beyond reproach – attacked his victim’s witness, and accused Lori Anne Thompson and her husband of attempted extortion, then sued his victim.

In retrospect, the man was quite an egotist: as proud as proud can be. When seen, his humility was sheer bombast. It was all a show. The Word of God was his tool, and he used it masterfully. Many who heard him became apologists, as a result. Those lucky enough to be ‘chosen’ would help build his ministry. The larger his ministry became, the deeper became his sickness.

We now gain a newfound perspective on what Ravi dubbed ‘Apologetics with a Touch.’ “We are to be neighbors to our world, reaching not only the mind, but caring for the heart and the physical needs of the body as well. What greater opportunity to express the glory of God?” Hiding in plain sight: our gullibility itself needs to be examined with great fervor.

Ravi said: “Everyone has a worldview, which offers answers to four necessary questions: 1) origin, 2) meaning, 3) morality, and 4) destiny. In turn, these answers must be correspondingly true on particular questions and, as a whole, all answers put together must be coherent. Going a step further, the three tests for truth must be applied to any worldview: 1) logical consistency, 2) empirical adequacy, and 3) experiential relevance. When submitted to these tests, the Christian message is utterly unique and meets the demand for truth.” This man’s secret life was logically inconsistent, empirically inadequate, and experientially irrelevant to the Christian message. It is a rare individual capable of lingering in the depraved depths he carved out for himself.

Ravi was a con-man of the highest order. You don’t liaison with God, then dance with The Devil, without contempt for both.

This is so hard for so many of us. It feels personal because it is personal. This wasn’t someone who spoke about God but had an affair, or three, or dozens. This man twisted God’s word – in pursuit of Satan – and used young women to spew the latter’s desire. In lieu of God, in opposition to The Holy Spirit, in defiance of everything he was known for, Ravi conned and used these young women. He reportedly told them they were serving God by servicing him, then paid ‘generously’ for their silence. He conned the adoring public into believing his persona was real. He conned his entire ministry. He funneled funds for his conniving, controlling, coercion of untold numbers of women. All under the cloak of secrecy. All with thanks to God for giving him these ‘opportunities.’

Truly sick.

Ravi conned his wife and family. None of his friends knew what he was. He didn’t buy into the program he sold. His ministry was merely a means to an end, and to that end, he ended innocence, trust, and most importantly, respect. Every time you take advantage of another, your self respect is absent. Ravi showed he had no respect for women, but let us not forget how that plays out in the real world: If you spend your time disrespecting women, you aren’t a man worthy of respect. Your integrity is inextricably linked to how you treat others. In the midst of all this, Ravi had no personal integrity. This is demonstrably true.

When someone has an affair, it is consensual. As far as we know, none of these sexual relationships were consensual. Though any affair violates the marriage, consent is still king. Without consent – it is abuse – culminating in rape.

Whenever ‘the world at large’ is unaware of our actions, this reveals who we really are: We are ‘who we are in secret.’ Though he kept ‘the secrets of his sickness’ out of the public eye, could he have thought God was unaware? Did he not think there would be a day of judgment that he would face? Ravi didn’t just undermine God’s authority. He wantonly, blatantly scoffed at God.

Ravi didn’t galavant. He wasn’t merely prurient. Ravi ravaged. He contrived. He stalked. His desires weren’t simply larger than those of other men. He was perniciously plotting, planning, coercing and constructing an entire global network of massage parlors – to massage his nether – and never tell. He even invested in these places of business, so he could control both the income and the outcome. This was methodical. This was maniacal. Sin didn’t ‘find’ him, instead, he constructed a life in pursuit of sin. He mapped it out. This was ‘Intelligent Design’ run amok.

The blueprints had his fingerprints all over the body of his purpose.

Ravi told women they were ‘his special one,’ that their relationship was ‘a gift from God.’ These words are normally reserved for your wife, or even your lover. These words didn’t mean anything to Ravi. They were designed to entrap and ensnare these women into believing something Ravi knew was not true. If he had just had multiple affairs with many women on various continents, we would all be astounded, yet almost all would forgive him, shameful as that would be. Instead, what he did wasn’t just immoral, it is illegal in most civilized parts of the world.

We didn’t know it then, but we do now: This defined him.

To clarify: Ravi wasn’t defined by these actions because I said so, or the public (who loves to bash and loves a scandal) decreed it true. It is true because Ravi made it true. He customized his life in pursuit of this defining characteristic. I didn’t do that. I didn’t want that. Nobody wanted that except for Ravi. He accomplished what he set out to do. He defined himself with his actions. We all do. No one escapes this.

I am in the process of writing a book that deals with integrity. We are our integrity. No one can take your integrity away from you, but you. Still, many will take it away from themselves. Disrespecting another is disrespecting yourself. Disrespecting yourself is disrespecting God. Ravi spent his time, energy, and ministry funds – – in pursuit of disrespecting God. This is why it is not ‘but for the Grace of God’ it could happen to me, or to you. It can’t. This takes a sick and twisted individual. I don’t pursue the denigration of others, I abhor it. My book – My Life’s Thesis – is about demonstrating respect for others as ‘the highest good’.

Matthew 25:40 ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me.’ This knife cuts both ways. This applies to the good deeds, as well as the bad. Respect is paramount.

Do I look at ‘other’ women with lust in my heart? Yep. But I don’t wish I could force them upon myself unwillingly, in the name of God! No, no, no. That is an altogether different beast. Not much ‘danger’ that I should walk down that path and decide “this is the life for me!” There is no ‘moment of weakness’ in consistent deliberation of carefully constructed clandestine scenarios, where you impel your rising protrusion onto and into a masseuse – who is supposed to massage – anything else! Treating women with disdain is the consistent decision that Ravi made. He couldn’t have made these recurrent decisions if he didn’t believe them. Like the post-modernists he derided, Ravi created his own truth, and acted ‘as if’ God was not real.

Ravi customized his ministry to finance the furtive life he designed. This ended with his death, in May, 2020, but his legacy remains. Will he be remembered for the great things he said about Christ? Certainly more than if he never had his ministry, but far less than if he hadn’t deliberately and persistently abused his power and position, for his own depraved desires, leaving the tattered shrapnel of scared, scarred and broken women in his wake.

Perhaps we can take solace in this: It is far better to have no legacy, than to have Ravi’s.

Here is the report: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/rzimmedia.rzim.org/assets/downloads/Report-of-Investigation.pdf

Rock N’ Roll and stuff

When you listen to live music and you hear an ‘unshared’ change: A break, a stanza, a chord change, a post-break entrance… the drummer is most often right. When it doesn’t ‘hit’, when there are different opinions of how or when to re-emerge into the chorus, or some other mumbling point of re-entry, just listen. Usually the drummer has it right.

Not that I have a vested interest in the outcome of such a query, but it just so happens to be one of those things, one of those truths. It is, in fact, as it should be in any band worth their salt. The drummer, if no one else, should be ‘on’. If the drummer is on, the rest of the band will adjust. They will shift over, from their slightly off-paced place. Into the pocket, the groove, the place to be whenever any moving piece is piling its way into the short-ribs of your soul. Because that is where it will land. Not some esophagus place of muttered utterances, but in The Belly of The Beast: Rib-bound and fertile. Awaiting awakening from the spirit which moves across the various strings: plucked, stroked, slapped and pounded!

The drummer is right.

When the drummer isn’t right, the BAND is wrong!!! So the drummer better be right, all right?

Just a view from the apex of the EMC, you see.

Human Rights

New York recently enacted a law making First Degree Murder a human right. Though the law is sure to expand, for now you need to have ‘right to the womb’.

The father – whose daughter has his DNA in that womb – has no rights.

Dad can say: “I love my girl. I want to love and care for her, as long as I live.” He cannot hold her, feed her, care for her, OR kill her. Dad doesn’t have these ‘bundle of rights’, even when her DNA says she is HIS daughter. This is tragic for Dad. Unable to speak on behalf of the little Woman, Dad can neither choose to father – OR assassinate his daughter. Conversely, the mother is qualified to hire a hitman and snuff out her baby girl. Even after her water breaks, mom breaks no law – in calling for this assassination.

Is this a ‘right’ or a wrong?

The cheers were loud. This legislation was celebrated as a victory.  This is a morality beyond anything I have personally ‘experienced’ to date. Yes, I have seen evil. I have experienced evil. I have watched shows about Ted Bundy, the BTK killer, Jeffery Dahmer, etc.

It seems Bundy, BTK, and Dahmer have reincarnated themselves as politicians.

‘Well, it is ONLY if there is a health issue’, so it is said. When, in the HISTORY OF CHILD BIRTH, has the mother’s ‘health’ been enhanced in the 3rd trimester, by killing the baby in her womb? She still has to deliver – – the dead baby! She can’t stay in there. That would be terrible for… the mother’s health!

Is this really the state of Women’s rights?

“Get your laws off my body,” is the motto. But I am old enough to remember: way back in 2017, if you killed a pregnant woman, you had committed double homicide. That law is gone.

Now, if a man has no intention of strapping himself with childcare, he pummels his pregnant woman in the stomach until the baby is dead. Sure, he will be charged with assault and battery, but not murder. The laws – duly extracted from the woman’s body – see no life in the girl before, no life in her afterwards, and with no change in ‘status’, no law can be broken.

Go have a chat with a divorced or divorcing man about the financially crippling issue of child support. Thanks to this women’s issue, every father has ‘choices’ he never had before.

Can you just begin to see the awesome power and far-reaching benefits of this law?

Let’s not concern ourselves over ‘minor’ issues. The Black Minority are the MAJORITY of abortions. Black abortion numbers are several HUNDRED percentages above the percentage of citizenship, on the whole, and far outnumber everyone else in the race to exterminate life. The (overwhelmingly) white lawmakers do not concern themselves with this fact, no matter how constant it has been. (As constant as the tides since the inception of ‘Planned parenthood’.)

The majority are Black minorities taking advantage of this great and expanding service. Just light One World Trade Center pink, and celebrate the RESULTS!

Who was she, this little girl: little hands, tiny little feet just waiting to learn how to walk? A mind that is dreaming of who knows what… But there she is. A little woman. She could grow up to be the Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in just decades. But… she is a Woman Without Rights. She can’t choose. She is not ALLOWED to be the greatest woman in the 21st century. And it is not just limited to her. EVERY future woman has NO rights. Tomorrow’s women are being lawfully exterminated en masse – in the name of Women’s Rights.

Say a woman is 10 days from delivering, and her spouse dies. He didn’t leave her anything ‘of value’… panicked she can’t foresee the future. How will she ever make it with the Baby? So a doctor will bludgeon the girl, or stick a large needle into the woman’s uterus and through the baby’s head. This murder is completely legal on the basis of motherly ‘stress’ – allowing the viable baby girl to die inside the mom, prior to delivery. Oh yeah. The baby girl has to be delivered, barely ‘stillborn’.

I am a father, and there is NO QUESTION I would die for my daughter. I’m not a hero, and I’m far from alone. Every mother I know would GLADLY die for their child. Any mother who would choose to live – instead of their baby – are less valuable to society on that basis alone. We don’t know what the little girl will be, but she is a bundle of potential. The potential that the selfish, (3rd trimester) murdering mother (to spare her own issues) will ever have – has likely capped, and perhaps at this very moment.

Every argument against what I am saying, is valid – – PROVIDED the little girl is not human.

If you think enacting this law created boisterous applause, just wait. Soon, even assault will be lawful. Then women will have finally achieved the goal of ‘laws’ being kept ‘off their bodies’.

Now that will be an empowering day for Women. (Please hold your applause.)

Cell-phone upgrade?

By the time you read this, it has likely already been done. I have caved in to the pressure to make my cellular telephone into the modern-day phone/computer bandied about by oodles of adults squinting at the palm of their hand.

I hate it.

This requires not just a decision, but a commitment. I don’t have a problem with decisions – – but commitments are another story altogether.

I have a 2004 Honda Odyssey wagon. It has a CD player, a GPS, and a DVD player. This probably added almost 3 grand to the purchase price. All of these functions are now available in a cell phone.

Many people stay on top of current technologies, especially the Mac-o-philes: They had the I-phone the first week on the market… same with the I-pad. What was once ‘cutting edge’ now seems to have taken on a much more sinister look. It has become The Pride of The Wasteful: “I bought this for 15 hundred dollars a year ago and it is worth almost 200 bucks today.”

I thought my 04 car was cutting edge. When purchased, I believed this would keep me ahead of the curve. But here is the really daunting perspective: Has technology finally advanced so quickly it has become instantly irrelevant?

My current cell phone makes calls. I can send and receive text messages. If the file is not too big, I can get a picture message. That is it. A few years ago, the text thing wasn’t around. That feature would be considered ‘the balls’. It is a mode of communication I truly despise. Compare that with an available technology that falls under the radar: You can record a message, and send it to another phone. Though this has been available for over a decade, nobody uses it. Perhaps it seems too impersonal. Is that even possible?

Spending time looking down at my phone – and punching digits – is a waste of time, energy, and sensory input. This assessment must be mine alone, since texting is extremely popular. In fact, spending time with friends is often spending time with a friend and their phone. They can’t get away from it, and you can’t get away from ‘it’ without getting away from them. 

So do you ask your friends to turn their phone off? Seems – oddly – rude! Imagine how far we have come as a society. Years ago it would be considered rude to talk on a cell phone at a cash register. Now it is commonplace, and interrupting the chat – in order to be present – is rude.

My cell doesn’t work properly. The call waiting feature hasn’t worked for years. I’m not aware of new messages for days. Sometimes service drops for no good reason. Recently the owner of the company I work for called me, and I didn’t get his message for 2 weeks.

But it isn’t simply a phone, it is a whole ‘plan’ decision. I am not under contract, so I could change carriers. Since everyone who has a phone hates their carrier (as everyone who has cable hates their cable company,) most would be delighted to give the middle finger to their provider. I try not to fall prey to this mindset, tempting as it is.

The upgrade would give me roving internet capabilities, and always-available GPS. I would be able to find restaurants and coffee shops with just a few finger movements. I could watch TV. I could read ‘stuff’, during down times, while waiting for scheduled stuff to come to fruition! I could check my email…

This the problem.

I don’t want to be ‘the guy’ who is observed looking at the palm of his hand. This is how a cell phone allows your life to pass by. ‘Life’ is right there in front of you. Is the item in your palm more interesting, pressing, or are you just obsessing?

Technology has taken people away from personal interactions. This has been replaced by a private, cerebral interchange. This isn’t just bad for the mind, it is bad for the spirit. We need to follow our heart, guided by our mind to the lives beyond the screen. This allows us to be positive members of society. Sometimes it even results in boredom.

Nobody has mental down-time anymore.

Imagine yourself on the beach at sunset. There is a warm breeze blowing across your face. The sound of seagulls is mixing with the waves crashing on the sand. Your feet are in the sand, and the water rushes over them and is drawn back out to sea. The sunset is orange bleeding into the blue sky, and a quarter moon can be seen in the distance, weaving in and out of the small wisps of clouds.

If your iphone had batteries, you could ignore it all.

Depressed, you leave this scene and retreat – – to charge the source of all happiness the world has to offer.

There is a world out there, and a world of people missing it.

What in the world has come over us?

Rapture

Okay, okay… so it didn’t happen. The heavens didn’t crash down upon us like cardboard walls on a television set. We are all still here. The birds are relentlessly chirping. Moving veritable mounds of molecules, they live by example: Sing.

So we sing to the heavens, and the gates of hell have closed their entranceway as well. The DJ at my brother-in-law’s wedding announced the upcoming moment when the scheduled event was to happen. I felt nothing. There wasn’t an ominous overtone. The skies were clear and gorgeous. The ground only moved for those who overindulged. But I like to think I am aware of spiritual shifts in the cosmos. With nothing whatsoever to base this assertion, I believe I would have sensed the impending doom. Now, alas, I will never know.

Is it possible we are already there? What if the event took place, but God is taking us – one by one – rather than all at once? That may not be biblical, but neither was the fallen prediction. If one person was gone, would the world notice? As the days went on, I think we most certainly would. If the dude pressing the button at the crosswalk flew into the sky and didn’t return, I would definitely make a note of that. (I would also begin to fear for my own soul, but how long do I expect this post to be?)

Look, it happens to the best of us. We predict we will be millionaires by a certain age, then we predict the government will sap all our earnings for our entire life. Only one of these predictions is guaranteed. The silver lining is that even if we achieve prediction #1, we haven’t avoided prediction #2. While that should make you rest easier, I predict it will not.

I try to keep my predictions predictable:

I predict I will write a blog about Harold Camping’s prediction. I predict this will change less lives than his prediction about The Rapture.

I predict I will love my daughter no matter what she does. Stay tuned.

I predict there will be hardship ahead for myself, and for all of us. I predict many will be unprepared.

I predict The Bible will provide solace for those who read it. I predict those that don’t will deny the solace could exist for them.

I predict I will stay calm. I predict that will work well for me.

Bin Laden

THE Guru Of Evil. The good ol’ USA has hoisted him up to levels undeserving of such paucity. But don’t expect that sheer adulation to end anytime soon. This country is enamored, and our government wants us to stay that way.

Celebrating a death never defines the deceased, it defines the celebrant. We simply must get over ourselves.

It amazes me how badly the bulk of us miss the mark. There is great power in ignorance. That is the power of a 3 year old playing in the middle of a busy street. Ignorance is dwarfed, however, by the power of ignoring: This power presents itself in the form of the parents who allowed their child to be in this predicament. Then there is the power of goodness. This is exemplified by the person who stops their car, gets out, stops traffic, scoops up the kid and returns the child to their parents.

Unless you would drive around the kid – or run them over – you are one of the three.

We all fall prey to these variations, from time to time. There is no getting around it. We don’t always pay attention. We aren’t always at the top of our game. Our human frailty is not a weakness, it is our greatest strength.

Get over yourself.

After 9/11, I spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out how to keep ‘what happened’ from happening again. That was me, staring at my ceiling September 15th at 3:00 AM. I could also be found waking up September 20th at 4:00 AM thinking of how this event could be prevented in the future. Then again on the 22nd. Again on the 25th. I didn’t get much sleep at all that month.

I couldn’t get over myself.

As the Government rounded up the troops to bomb areas of Afghanistan, I was trying to figure out how to keep someone other than the pilot from flying a plane.

Obviously, I missed the boat.

The media sold the story of our victimization. Bin Laden had an agenda, and we were victims. We needed to gather some patriotism, pour in a generous dose of hatred, and begin the bombing. Then the media would keep the public’s attention on terrorists, and training camps, and information gleaned outside the scope of the terrorist networks.

Face it: if we had inside information, the problem wouldn’t exist.

Always looking outward for a solution is a blame game. That is what we have been caught up in ever since. While making it possible to completely ignore reality, blaming and victimization go hand in hand. Responsibility always acknowledges truth, and accepts the burden. You can look to others for inspiration, but you cannot lead except by example.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: hard to have any of it without responsibility.

Look at your own life. Tell me all the success stories you have had from blaming someone else. I’m not saying bad crap hasn’t happened, for surely it has. I just want to know how your fault-finding victimization created success in your own life. Can you give me an example? Even one?

As a schoolchild, perhaps you were blamed for something that another kid did. Perhaps you were able to shirk off the blame, and throw the responsibility on the kid who slung a rubber band at the back of Molly’s head. But this wasn’t success, you simply avoided blame. If the other kid fessed up, he came out looking better than you! He took responsibility. You shirked responsibility, while placing blame.

The whole thing is wildly unfair.

While Bin Laden’s arsenal was far more dangerous than an unguided rubber band in a classroom, shirking responsibility yields correspondingly similar results. The structure doesn’t change, only the stakes do.

Bin Laden’s capacity never scared me nearly as much as the free-range fly zone over our nation’s capitol nearly an hour after two major terrorist attacks. One of these is gone. The other can only be secured through responsibility.

Security has been tightened at airports. Now, despite millions of frequent flyer miles, you or I can be groped like a private lap dancer in front of disgruntled passengers. This wasn’t the ‘responsibility’ I was hoping for. Box cutters weren’t the reason for the terrorist attack.

I think Pilots should have seats which weigh them. When they get up, only their exact weight will be able to fly. In addition, there needs to be a code every time a pilot sits down. Without that code, the plane goes on autopilot. Needless to say, Pilots should have a monitor, with a camera looking into the cabin.

So we have been wrong for 10 years, but now we are all right.

As George Carlin said, “We like war! We’re a warlike country. We’re good at it!” But our vulnerabilities are as wide as the Grand Canyon. While my trust in our government wasn’t changed knowing we corralled Bin Laden in under a decade, implementing the ideas I mentioned would help me sleep. Once we are able to ignore Bin Laden – thus giving him the attention he truly deserves – I will celebrate heartily.

I like to think I can make a difference.

I need to get over myself.

Food Pyramid

The American Diabetes Association had a life-threatening food pyramid on their website. This is no myth. There you could find your path to lofty glucose – in beautiful Carbohydrate-laden technicolor – right on their website:

http://tobyhowl.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/food-pyramid-for-diabetes-designed-by-american-diabetic-association-ada/

In August, I wrote to the American Diabetes Association, succinctly explaining my medical perspective:

From:  <me>
Sent:  8/1/2010 02:03:55 AM
To:  <AskADA@diabetes.org>
Subject:  food pyramid

You forgot to mention smoking illicit substances. This should be right
at the base of the food pyramid, as whoever put the listed foods as
the ‘foundation’ for a diabetic diet was surely imbibing.

It seems that not only don’t these items belong in the ‘foundation’
position, they should pretty much be eliminated altogether from a
diabetic diet. Diabetics who follow the food pyramid listed on the ADA
website are putting themselves at a tremendous health risk.

Who created the diabetic food pyramid, and why hasn’t the ADA changed
it?

Please get back to me on this, as the health of millions of people
worldwide is at stake.

Sincerely, Yours Truly

I got the following response back:

Date:     August 9, 2010 9:09:46 AM EDT

Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting the American Diabetes Association. We have received your e-mail regarding the food pyramid.

We apologize for the delay in response to you e-mail. We’re in the process of getting rid of the pyramid. There were concerns about analytics etc.

Sincerely,
Jane Nyondo
Center for Information and Community Support
American Diabetes Association
1-800-342-2383

I like to think I can do some good in the world. Perhaps somewhere, someone has benefitted from my actions. Although their website is still laced with horrible food misinformation, today they have eliminated the food pyramid:

http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/diabetes-food-pyramid.html

While I offer no proof, perhaps I have saved a life. The Health Care System, Insurance Agencies, Our Government… all needs a major overhaul. Our American system should seek things that are good, regardless of who profits. Oil exists only because their money funds campaigns. How do you change a system which is literally fueled (paid for) by the toxins living in the bloodstream of voters?

Sure, we can vote. But funding determines outcomes, not issues. If voters spent more time investigating the funding for the politicians, their perspective would change dramatically. Fortunately, there is funding in place to make sure voters are oriented towards the issues out of the mouths of politicians, rather than their diametrically opposed funding.

When Pepsi helps to sponsor the ‘run for Diabetes’, is the Diabetes Association going to give an honest evaluation of Pepsi in a Diabetic diet?

When Philip Morris sits on the board at the American Cancer Association…

When Big Oil funds Al Gore… (It wasn’t on purpose, it was Occidental).

People believe what they are fed, while ignoring the ingredients.

Is it truth or myth? Take a little myth, mix in a dose of personal experience and, voila! You become a myth-mongering man on a mission to dispel the mythtics, or you eschew knowledge of disinformation from a personal perspective.

The National Pharmaceutical Association makes money off prescriptions. Doctors make money off patients needing prescriptions.

Only experience can change a myth to a reality. Your health is – and has always been – in your hands.

Health Insurance

I went to the doctor’s office this past week. This was my first visit since my diabetic prognosis reared it’s ugly (half-millennium glucose mark) around 7 weeks ago. The disease is calming down. The Doc was impressed, though he wants to see me lose more weight. It seems extra exercise is in order. Perhaps a gym membership.

I spoke to my sister Liz today. I asked her if she thought insurance would cover a health club membership. “They are not going to cover that.” She said. “People who are obese go to the doctor all the time. If Insurance paid for that, everyone who was obese would be covered.”

I said, “I’m not so sure. I have a medical condition. I have a disease. A health club membership would immensely help my glucose levels.”

“Well,” she said, “Good luck with that.”

I then called my health insurance company to discuss coverage for a health club membership. As my sister had prophesied, they do not have these benefits. I am not surprised, but I am incredulous: “You will cover drugs which cost more than a health-club membership, but you won’t cover a membership to a health club?”

“No we don’t cover that.” she said.

I said, “You will cover me if I am hospitalized, and I need an operation. You cover hospital stays… but you won’t cover the cost of a membership to a health club which would prevent these other costs?”

“That is right.” She said.

About 10 years ago a huge branch from the only tree on my (in-town) property fell onto my yard. I called my insurance company. They told me they would come and take the branch away, and repair the damage caused by the fallen branch. I told them that the tree was rotten and needed to come down. “We don’t take down trees which are standing,” they said, “only the branches which fall.”

“I don’t know if termites or carpenter ants have been inhabiting this tree for many years, but it’s completely rotten. It is hollow inside. This is a big tree.” I said.

“We don’t get rid of trees, sir.” They said.

“Okay,” I said, “let me give you a little background: This tree abuts my garage. The eaves of my garage – and my next-door neighbor’s garage – overhang each other. If the tree falls, it will take out my garage, and the neighbors garage. The neighbors had a fire a few years back, so their house has been totally re-done. So it is possible this tree will take out both garages and break into the brand-new house next door. Or, perhaps it will bounce off the new house and land on my other neighbor’s house. It doesn’t matter to me, though. I am just letting you know, because you are the ones who will be paying for it.”

They came out, took a look, and had the tree removed.

I spoke their language! But when it comes to health insurance, the language isn’t about health, at all! If dental insurance allowed 4 cleanings a year, they would be paying a lot less in fillings. That is dental health, but it is not a language insurance agencies speak. I feel sorry to these poor workers who have to deal with me on the phone, I really do. They have no answers and no authority. They only have the ability to regurgitate policy. Before I called, they probably hadn’t even considered whether or not it made any sense. Apparently, I am the only one who has noticed the snake eating it’s own tail. I said to the agent:

“You will cover drugs, but you won’t cover the activities which would alleviate the need for drugs. You will cover sickness, but you won’t cover health.”

“If you want to put it that way.” She said.

“It doesn’t matter how I phrase it. That is the way it is.” I said. (The rest is just semantics.)

Tonight I rode my bike for 45 minutes. My blood sugar dropped to 105.

Can I get a witness?

Ice Cream Stand

Okay, here’s just a little quirk of mine: A pet peeve, which peeves me more than my pet peeving all over the floor.

When you go to an ice cream stand, why can’t they exchange the money before making your order? This is almost never done.

I order a cone. The worker makes my cone, and hands it to me. As I hold the ice cream cone, it begins to melt. I take out my wallet with my other hand. I flop it open on the counter, trying to pry some dollars out of it, while pushing back those I don’t need. Since I don’t know how much the cone is (until it is dripping on my hand,) I am unable to gather whatever change I have. So I pull out the largest possible dollar, producing the greatest amount of change. I flip my wallet shut and secure it in my pocket. I then switch hands, take the change, and put it in my other pocket. (If I put the change in the same pocket, all the loose dollars would come flying out when I pulled out the wallet). After I am done with the ice cream cone, I take my sticky hands and put them into my pockets, so I can put the change in it’s proper place. The sticky remnants are now in my pocket, and on the dollars which are against the walls of my wallet.

Wouldn’t it just be easier to exchange the money first? I think it would also be easier to leave a tip, when the sticky-drip jugglefest isn’t in session.