So glad we did our taxes already. Just checked my checking account to make sure I had enough money to pay a bill and…surprise!!! Our tax refunds are all in there! All three of them: MI, CA, and a big helping hand from Uncle Sam. Can’t wait for the summer when we all get stimulated by that one package. :clap:
I’m blessed to have such a devoted and self-sacrificing companion.
I loved my V-Day gift. But I love my wife even more. :love:
I like listening to this guy’s editorials on KNX AM1070 and I thought this one was especially good.
» The Golden Rule by Michael Josephson
Five hundred years before the birth of Christ, Confucius was asked, “Is there one word that may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?”He answered, “Reciprocity. What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” This basic principle, now called the Golden Rule, can be found in every major religion and philosophy.
Many people evoke one version or another of this rule, but it’s often misused. The Golden Rule is not a rule of enlightened self-interest. Sure, people are more likely to be nice to you if you’re nice to them, but the moral center of this principle is lost if you simply view it as a rule of exchange: Do unto others so they will do unto you or do unto others as they have done unto you, let alone do unto others before they do unto you.
The core of the Golden Rule is a moral obligation to treat others ethically for their sake, not ours, even if it’s better than the way they treat us. That means we should be honest to liars, fair to the unjust, and kind to cruel people.
Why? Not because it’s advantageous, but because it’s right. The way I treat others is about who I am, not who they are. It’s like the man who broke off an argument that descended to name-calling by saying, “Sir, I will treat you as a gentleman – not because you’re one, but because I’m one.”
It’s true that if we commit to always treating others the way we want to be treated, we’ll be taken advantage of occasionally. But that’s also true of those who are always trying to outsmart their neighbor.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
So the following article is a perfect example of the rampant epidemic of negative spin in our media today. But who could have foreseen the ripple effect of closing a large inner-city medical center and not reallocating it’s plentiful resources to the rest of the system?
The author of the article makes it surprisingly easy to agree with suggestive wording that the facility in question is not providing adequate medical care to the patients it sees, subtly accusing it’s practitioners of wrongdoing. However, read between the lines and the article states all the facts necessary to make an absolutely contrary conclusion. That conclusion is the remainder of the County medical system is simply weighed down by a combination of patients searching for services no longer available to them from the closed MLK hospital and the lack of resources for the operating facilities to accommodate that additional load. Those resources would provide more available personnel to triage and treat the mass exodus of patients from the newly under served areas. The problem is not lapse in staff provided care, but a resource issue.
How, then, does the problem get corrected? Well, it looks like a citation such as this will get the ball rolling for funding to remedy the shortcomings, so it’s a good thing. Hopefully. Unless someone wants to see the ripples from dropping in a small boulder.
» From the LA Times: (click link or more for article)
