Monthly Archives: March 2025

Mar23

Knowing a Tree by its Fruit

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15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (Biblegateway.com NKJV)

Know any ravenous wolves attacking the federal government agencies these days? It felt like that recently when the Secretary of Social Security Administration Dudek made allusions to shutting down Social Security after starting the process of closing up to 47 local offices. He backed down on the threat and yesterday and sent an email to those of us who have a family member on Social Security (this is a screenshot from the email).

What kind of fruit is that? Can you imagine what it is like being elderly and depending on that monthly check and not knowing if the TRO will expire and Dudek will cut off that check?

To add insult to injury, Secretary of Commerce Lutnik, said that if elderly people expressed anger about not receiving their Social Security check, that was a sign that they were “fraudsters”. Is that simply mocking older citizens or is that a threat to them? Here’s the quote (from The Hill):

At one point in the wide-ranging, nearly two-hour conversation, Lutnick also said that if Social Security “didn’t send out their checks this month,” his “mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain.”

“She’d think something got messed up, and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining,” the billionaire businessman said.

“Anybody who’s been in the payment system and the processes, who knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, because whoever screams is the one stealing,” he said. “Because my mother-in-law’s not calling, come on, your mother, 80-year-olds, 90-year-olds, they trust the government.”

What kind of fruit is that? It certainly does not appear to be godly fruit.

This is the fruit that God wants to see growing (Galatians 5: 22,23):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control.

Praying for my nation. God help us.

Mar10

VA and the Physical and Social Determinants of Health

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“There are lots of changes coming, so get used to it!” the new VA Secretary Doug Collins said with a smirk after he explained the VA will be cutting 80,000 civil servants. He promised that services to our veterans would be as good as ever… right before he said the “get used to it” part.

My husband is a Vietnam-era veteran. He served his country in the most thankless time in history for folks serving in the military. Now, he’s an ancient old veteran whose excellent medical care comes from the VA at Perrypoint, Maryland. His doctors and nurses there give him the highest level of care and they care for him with respect due a veteran. He experienced the same care and respect during a two-month stay in the Baltimore VA/University of Maryland hospital.

Just as important as the good quality care he receives is that respect he feels when he is at the VA for his appointments. He is always addressed as Veteran Tillman. Everyone from greeters, to receptionists, to doctors and nurses, talks to him as though he is a valued human. They laugh at his jokes. They treat him like he is an accepted member of the community. I have seen that this is vital to his health. In my training as a counselor, I know there is a name for this kind of health. It is called “the social determinants of health”. Without these social determinants, people do not do well medically.

And while I’m singing the praises of the VA system. Let me tell you about the Maryland VA’s caregiver program. Because I am my husband’s full-time caregiver, I need training and support. You simply cannot do caregiving without this. The VA provides caregiver courses online, caregiver coaching, plus weekly training and bi-weekly support groups. I have a stressful task as a caregiver, I really don’t know what I would do without the practical training I receive. AND the social determinants of health- the support groups.

Where I’m going with this is: how dare a couple of billionaires and their smirky VA Secretary threaten the well-being of my veteran and me? How dare they threaten the well-being of thousands of veterans who served their country while they did what…stayed home with bone spurs or avoided service because they were not born in the US?

I think this is a Constitutional issue. Veterans served their country with their lives and liberty. Their lives and “pursuit of happiness (well-being)”, depend on the nation keeping its promise of care. The Preamble of the Constitution, the Constitution’s enactment clause, promises this.

If you know a veteran or a veteran’s family member, or just care about the well-being of our nation, would you please write your elected officials and ask for intervention to stop the decimation of our VA system?

BTW- here’s an interview I did for the first caregiver training program after I completed it.