Dear U.S.P.S. - Just Get it Over With

This Sunday (1/26/2014), the price of mailing a first class letter will increase from 46¢ to 49¢ per ounce.  This three-penny increase, the likes of which haven't been seen or financially felt since June 2002, is supposedly only for two years.  Within that increase is an increase that would have happened anyway, a 1¢ up in stamp price which was in line with keeping up with increases in the Consumer Price Index.  After 2016, the price theoretically would drop back to 47¢.  Will it?  Yeah, right.

When the US Post Office became the US Postal Service in 1971, the price of a first class stamp was 8¢. Let's do some math.  With the change taking effect tomorrow, the price to send a letter will have increased slightly more than six times that happier postal times rate.  From 8 to 49 cents in a matter of 43 years.  Some would say that's not bad considering the rate of inflation that's occurred in that span of time, although the Federal government managed to keep the price under 10¢ for over 100 years.  Yes, it is still a bargain as compared to some other goods and services.  But, as the cost of postage increases, the amount left for buying food and paying bills decreases.  In the scheme of things, it may not be a big chunk of money to mail a letter across town or across country, but for those struggling to make ends meet, it still adds up.

With people already squeezing their budgets, it's no wonder the grumbling began shortly after the Postal Service announced the proposed increase in September of last year.  Mickey Barnett, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the USPS, sent out a rambling letter in September 2013 addressed to "Dear Postal Customer" explaining the logic of the decision.  I'm a smart woman, but even I had trouble wading through those ten paragraphs.

But, I do get it.  Like any business, the USPS has expenses.  Unlike most business, the USPS has to answer to Congress for any attempt to increase income by increasing their prices. It also has to answer to Congress for any expense-cutting moves it might make.  Even its five year business plan to bring them back to a lean, mean mail-carrying machine needs to be reviewed and approved by our elected officials.  Its hands are tied.  I get it.  Pointing fingers as to when this business entity started to go wrong and who is at fault for it happening in the first place is a useless gesture.  Even with the volume of mail decreasing and competition for package delivery strong, we are still dependent on the USPS for the day to day delivery of boxes, bills, resumes, and the still handwritten cards and letters to friends and loved ones. Not everything can be virtually delivered just yet.

So, why do I say "just get it over with"?  Because I believe that the increase, which needed to happen even though we protest strongly against it, should have taken the price straight to 50¢.  If we're going to get annoyed with a three-cent increase, what's one more penny?  It brings in more revenue for them and my guess is that it still isn't going to result in any leftover funds for someone to enjoy.

And let's face it, it's easier figuring out the cost of mailing things with a nice round figure of 50 to multiply by. Yes, harder on the wallet, but easier to figure out.

Oh, come on, we know it's going to get there, anyway.

Flu Shot Versus Flu–The Lesser of Two Evils

This year, New York State sent down a mandate that required people who work in healthcare facilities either to have the flu shot or they would be required to wear a mask the entire time they were at work.  Not just when in contact with patients, but the entire time they were on the clock and on the premises.  The purpose of both options was to stem the tide of the flu season.  Okay, that didn’t work out as well as everyone might have hoped ‘cause the outbreak of flu here in the U.S. qualifies as epidemic.

Not absolutely requiring the shot is said to be an attempt to give people who don’t want to get the shot for whatever reason an alternative.  Nobody’s fooling me.  If you ever had to wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth for 8-10 hours straight, you already know how annoying and even inconvenient it can get.  If you had to wear it every day you worked, the words “absurd”, “ridiculous” “silly” and “stupid” might wander through your brain on a regular basis.  Yet, the mask must remain regardless of the mantra that those words become in your head.  Yes, it’s an alternative to getting the shot, but the inconvenience of a masked existence is also a way of getting people to comply without actually insisting on it.

Some object to the flu shot for religious reasons.  Even though I’ve heard the arguments as to why someone’s faith says that they shouldn’t take any vaccination, I still don’t get it, but I’ll respect their right to be flu shot-free.  There are also those who work in hospitals, etc. who object to getting the flu shot because they just don’t want it.  There are also some in that group who think it’s absurd to insist they get the shot when the public is still being exposed to the flu out in the great wide non-hospital world.  They’re right about that, but there’s something to the argument of taking extra steps in a hospital, nursing home or similar healthcare setting where some patients’ immune systems might not be up to par due to age, disease, or medications.

Truth is, anyone who objects to getting the flu shot, unless they’re allergic to some portion of it, is really doing so because they don’t want to be told what to do, either by a government entity or in general.  I can relate.  I’m a quiet little maverick myself and. up until a few years ago, I never got a flu shot, either.  It was when New York State required that everyone who worked in a healthcare setting get the adjunct shot for the H1N1 flu virus a few years ago that I reluctantly started lining up for the flu shot ow-ee.  Granted, my decision to cave in at that time was partly based in wanting to keep my paychecks rolling in, but compliance is compliance.  My argument was that I didn’t like the reaction I always had to every vaccination/immunization I got.  Yup, with every single shot, regardless of what it was for, I’d run a fever of over 101°F, get muscle aches and just get generally bitchy for 24-36 hours.  Then, I started to look at it from the perspective of people who got the flu and were so sick with it, some to the point of dying from it, and I decided that I could put up with my side effects on a once a year basis.  Now, I just get the shot on a Friday so no one has to listen to me whine the next day or so.

Many years ago, I had the flu.  It was just over a week of a 102-103°F fever, body aches, coughing, sneezing, sinus and chest congestion, and feeling like an 18-wheeler had run me over, slammed the truck into reverse and ran me over one more time for good measure.  Used up all my sick time and didn’t get to enjoy a hooky day from work for quite a while after that.  And yet, it wasn’t until 20 years later that I started to regularly get the shot to minimize the risk of repeating anything similar to that episode ever again.  Through the luck of the draw, I never came down with another strain of flu.  Oh, you didn’t know there was more than one?  Ha-ha – silly reader.

Some think that because they got sick after getting the flu shot that the shot gave them the flu.  Uh, no.  Anyone who understands the immune process and how modern vaccines do their thing will tell you it doesn’t work that way.  It takes about two weeks for the immunity to kick in to the max.  If you got sick during that time, either you’re like me and had side effects which weren’t flu, or you had something that was flu-like but wasn’t influenza, or somebody already exposed you to the flu, you were destined to get it and the timing just sucked.  Get over it. 

I understand the reluctance, fellow mavericks, and if you can live with wearing a mask all the live long day, then more power to you.  But, if you have to comply with getting immunized to get into school and college, or even travel the world,  what’s having one more needle once a year?  When you stop thinking about yourselves and start thinking about the people who can’t fight the flu fight as well as you, you might want to reconsider for their sakes.  Give it some thought.

Oh, Who are You Trying to Kid?

There’s been a bit of research done that suggests that men who shave their heads are perceived as stronger, more virile, more masculine, even macho as compared to their before shaved head image.  Speaking as an appreciator of the male form in all its variety, I can honestly say that it ain’t necessarily so.

Some men with a full stock of hair will shave their heads, but it’s more commonly men who have a less than ideal hereditary hairline who will take this path.  For what?  Do you hate the hair that’s still there or something?  Maybe you’re trying to get it over with earlier than it would have happened anyway?  In either case, Gentleman, trust me – unless you’re a slave to keeping your skull skin absolutely clear of stubble, everybody knows where your line of genetically determined demarcation begins and ends. 

The study further suggested that the possible explanation as to why those who chose to shave their heads are perceived as stronger and more virile is because they chose to shave it in the first place, that it takes chutzpah to make the decision to not accept the process as it’s handed down, grab the razor or shaver and take it all off, Baby.  I get that.  It can be a solid statement of defiance against what society sadly perceives as looking older and less than perfect, with the man instead turning his appearance into something of his own choosing.  If that’s the case, then I applaud the decision.  But, if it’s because he’s only trying to disguise the fact that his hair is disappearing faster than a glacier in warm weather, then he’s doing it for the wrong reason.

I’ve always appreciated men who can see beyond the surface and can do no less for them.  I don’t care so much about what’s on or not on their heads so much as what’s in them.  Intelligence, wisdom and humor mean more to me than a full head of hair, a balding pate or a shaved skull ever could.  Like a car, the body may be a little rough, but it’s what’s under the hood that counts.

So, Gentleman, shave that head or don’t, but do it knowing you’re not impressing me as any more virile by what you look like after the choice is made.  Self-confidence doesn’t necessarily come from what we do to ourselves, so much as what we do for ourselves and others. 

On Fighting the Fight After the Fight is Gone

If I didn’t have such an issue with using my body as a canvas, I’d have a tattoo across my chest that reads “If the brain waves are gone, then let me go.”  It’s not the same as tattooing “Do Not Resuscitate”.  That suggests not even trying when there is the possibility that I could be brought back to quality existence, and I really would like someone to try once before quits is called and any of my organs which are useful are donated to help someone else continue. 

Back in the mid-1980s, my eldest sister suffered a massive internal bleed due to a ruptured spleen and she ended up in the ICU on full life support.  All the signs indicated irreversible shock, multiple organ failure and brain death.  As an EMT and also having worked in a hospital, I knew what all that meant.  My mother, who was a nurse, also knew what that meant.  We and the rest of the family were devastated, but we also knew that the only thing keeping her heart beating was the air that was being pushed in and being allowed to escape by the ventilator.  Yes, she might have continued indefinitely on the ventilator with IVs and/or a feeding tube in place.  But, we knew it’s not what she wanted.  The bleed happened on New Year’s Day and she died the following morning.

Despite my sister’s health and other issues, she was a sweetheart.  She was loving and caring and would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.  She was a free spirit and would never let anyone tether her to tubes and machines just to keep her body going in the hope that maybe she might wake up later on. 

So-called miracles have happened when someone who was in a coma woke up months or years later, but those are exception rather than the rule.  The body has some incredible abilities to heal itself, given adequate time.  Even the brain has been known to circumvent serious injury.  Thing is, the damage can be so extensive that the body can’t deal with it all in even a normal length of lifetime, leaving the person unable to wake, dependent on others for every little thing, and unable to chose whether or not they really want that existence for the rest of their days.

For my sister, I believe she made the decision for everyone concerned when she went into cardiac arrest the next morning and didn’t respond to all the measures taken to bring her back again.  For my mother, she chose not to be on a ventilator in her final two days; she had been on one, sedated, for two weeks prior to her conscious decision.  I was her health care proxy and knew that her choice meant she was going to die, but that it’s what she wanted even in her last comatose hours.  She was a woman who preferred being able to do things for herself and that included breathing.

Every comatose person’s situation is unique.  Every family’s response is unique.  It’s hard to make the decision about whether to continue fighting or let a loved one go and anyone who hasn’t had to deal with the situation can’t really understand the anguish involved in making it.  But, I have and I do.  Like my parents, I want quality time while I’m here and if I can no longer have that, if I can no longer interact with the world in the way I have all my life, then pull the plug and the tubes and let me go.  Take what you want and fry the rest, meaning donate any viable organs and cremate my remains.  The paperwork for it all is in place and my remaining family members are aware of my choices and I’m confident they will honor them.

For anyone else facing this unpleasant situation, I ask only that you consider what your comatose family member would want, how they would want to spend part or the rest of their life and how they would want to you to be for that same amount of time.  Think of how they would answer if asked and decide from there.

“Is it true that God answers all prayers?”
”Yes – and sometimes, the answer is no.”
                                                            From the TV series M*A*S*H