Pain Can Be Painful

Word came out yesterday that the arrest of Tiger Woods on suspicion of DUI came about due to his taking of prescription drugs following back surgery he had earlier this year. According to the police report, he blew a zero on the breathalyzer, but he admitted to a mismanagement of his medication. He had been found asleep at the wheel of his car at 3 a.m., and his mugshot reflected someone who looked to be under the influence of something.

Initially, Tiger was taking a lot of flak for drinking and driving but the truth is as we know it today is he mismanaged his pain medication. Or at least that is what it appears to be today. Whatever your thoughts are regarding Tiger and his past, you have to compartmentalize this particular issue in a way that allows you to have at least some compassion for his situation.

At the time of this writing, I don’t know the facts regarding why he was on the road in the middle of the night. But what I can empathize about is Tiger having to deal with insurmountable pain while trying to manage his daily life.

Tiger had just blogged a week ago about why he decided to go through another surgery on his back, which set back his chances of playing on the PGA tour again:

“I could no longer live with the pain I had. We tried every possible non-surgical route and nothing worked. I had good days and bad days, but the pain was usually there, and I couldn’t do much. Even lying down hurt. I had nerve pain with anything I did and was at the end of my rope.”

This comes on the heels of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr having to stop coaching for the second time in two seasons due to complications arising from back surgery. What I can tell you is I can understand what both of those guys are going through.

 

For years, I struggled with the pain that came with having sciatic nerve problems that would occur at some very inopportune times. The pain was unbearable. Most of the time, pain medication was a temporary band-aid. Sometimes, it didn’t help at all. Finally, I hit a wall with my back problems and the sciatic nerve got caught in between discs, causing me to lose all nerve function in my legs. I was medically a paraplegic and temporarily unable to walk.

The surgery helped immensely in terms of getting me back on track to walking again. And it did improve my chances of not having sciatic nerve problems for the rest of my life. But what it also did is leave me with daily pain for what is likely the remainder of my life. Every morning, I wake up with searing pain that requires me to just remain lying down until I feel well enough to start moving around. I have to take ibuprofen every day just to minimize what I have to endure, and I would definitely take something stronger if I could afford a pain management specialist.

So, before we take shots at Tiger or start calling Kerr weak, keep in mind just how painful back injuries can be. I’ve been there and remain in that place, and I can tell you it is mind-numbing pain. It shouldn’t be dismissed and it should be appreciated. I know what they are going through and it is a daily battle.  You might not like Tiger or Kerr or even me, but you should appreciate what we have to go through every day. And it is likely that it will be with each of us for a very long time.

Teacher Pay Raises Ignored ... Again

Having worked in and around politics since 2000, it is safe to say I have had my finger on the pulse of Oklahoma when it comes to how people feel about government. And the one thing I’ve learned is that most – because you can never find 100-percent consensus on anything – want to help teachers.

It would be easy to counter that isn’t necessarily true after the teacher pay raise that was sent to the people last November was voted down. However, word had gotten around that some of the money was going to higher education and CareerTech, and even the common education money was being split up among various areas. It wasn’t all going to teacher pay raises. And the people showed their disdain for the politics behind the teacher pay raise by rejecting it.

 With less than 100 hours remaining in the legislative session, it appears teachers are once again being left out of the mix. Despite a lot of last-minute negotiating and some creative revenue-raising measures, Oklahoma teachers seem to be on the outside looking in. Again.

As of this writing, two general appropriation bills had been introduced by legislative leadership. The one containing a $1,000 pay increase for teachers didn't advance to the floor. It was yet another example of teachers feeling the pinch of politics.

For the first time since I graduated high school in 1988, I returned to the classroom earlier this year and saw firsthand what it was like to experience life as a teacher. Working as a substitute educator was an eye-opening experience and I had an opportunity to see the true value a teacher can bring to the lives of a great number of kids.

Prior to that, I had shadowed a principal for a day at Capitol Hill High School, which gave me a chance to see a variety of different challenges that took place over the course of hours at an inner-city school. It showed me that the stereotypes that exist regarding students, teachers and administrators in the Oklahoma City Public School District just aren’t accurate. And clearly money was missing from the equation. Whether it is teachers having to pay for their own school supplies or the lack of text books or the over-sized classrooms, it is clear the state is failing to hold up its end.

The Oklahoma Legislature funds a variety of services and education has routinely been at the top of that list. However, the low ranking in teacher pay is reflective of our lack of commitment to do better by our children, and we tell them each and every year that we don’t care as much about them as we do some other less important priorities.

Being in the classroom and spending time in schools doesn’t make me any more qualified in insisting we need to do more for our teachers. And this year’s budget shortage didn’t make this the best year to make that happen. But, we need to stop making excuses and do something about it. Our teachers deserve better. Our kids deserve better. Our state deserves better.

Removing the Trump Muzzle from My Mouth

Following the election back in November, I was disheartened that a majority of electoral college voters would be selecting Donald Trump as the president. I viewed him as a decent businessman whose dad made sure he always had money. I saw him as an entertainer. I did, however, regard him as someone who would make a good politician. He is self-centered and public servants need to be focused on helping others first. I vowed, however, to give him a chance. So, I stayed quiet on social media about my thoughts regarding his actions and decisions.

I bit my tongue as family members called out liberals for protesting the election results. I held back from responding when friends challenged progressives for complaining when Trump fired the man who was investigating his ties to Russia. I have not posted anything political to social media since the election despite a growing inferno burning inside me each time something “un-presidential” occurs at the White House.

Presidents are generally graded out by their actions in the first 100 days and now that Trump has had his 100 days, it is time to review exactly what he has done. Keep in mind, my opinion of Trump is one that is probably not going to be shared by the vast majority of those who voted for him. When a man makes statements during his campaign that exposes him as being anti-women, anti-Mexican, anti-Chinese, anti-Muslim, anti-African American, anti-religion and pro-Russian, it is easy for me to know that he is a bad person and that I would never support him in those endeavors. Knowing this, however, also lets me know that if people are willing to cast their vote for a person like that, they have already made a statement as to who they are and it is likely nothing he does is going to sway that.

Early on in his presidency, it appeared that the former Democrat (look it up) was going back on all his campaign promises. He finally admitted he wasn’t going to exactly repeal ObamaCare, but was merely going to make some minor changes to it. It felt as if there might be hope for him after all. As it turns out, however, he flip-flopped on that admission and it seems that he is only making changes to the parts that the majority of people liked and is bending over backwards to make sure the money-makers are getting what they want.

He proved his anti-Muslim stance with his attempted executive order to ban Muslims from hand-picked countries from coming into the U.S. Amazingly enough, I still found people out there who wanted to defend that action. People whose heritage began in another country were in support of banning people like their ancestors from coming to this country. It is embarrassing that I know people like that. Knowing how this country became what it is and knowing what it is they now support is just incredible to me.

There are dozens of examples of things that Trump has done in his first few months that are worthy of convincing people to no longer support him (trying to waste taxpayer money on building a wall, undoing progress on the environment, his appointments to the Cabinet and other leadership positions). However, the links to Russia are enough. Having members of his campaign working with Russian officials to affect the election was one thing. One illegal thing. However, firing the man (FBI director James Comey) who was investigating that isn’t something that should just get people’s attention. It is a desperate act of a man who is clearly attempting to keep something secret. And for those of us who know history, it is a repeat of what President Richard Nixon did when he was being investigated during the Watergate scandal.

This week, Trump doubled down on his pro-Russian moves with his admission that he handed over classified secrets to Russian officials based on his decision that it was good diplomacy for them to have that information. I said during his entire campaign that he was a child whose daddy made him a millionaire. His dad made a choice to allow him to run an empire but we should have never allowed a person with this behavior to run a country, much less our country.

This probably won’t be my last blog attempting to expose what is going on in this country. If you still support this behavior, I know I am not going to say anything that is going to convince you about his lack of character. That’s on you. People voted for him despite knowing he was nothing more than a bully in nice clothes (made in China and Mexico), and they aren’t going to be easily convinced that he is doing anything wrong. But, smarter people than me and you will make that determination sooner rather than later. And, maybe, just maybe, we can have a nation to be proud of instead of the laughing stock of the world that we have become in 2017.