Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
XX - Everything ElseLeave a comment

Inside The Loony Bin – What About Truth?

RJ Walters

This week’s Loony Bin report is about truth. To me, the very foundations of a person is that he speaks the truth. One who regularly lies is simply not to be trusted in any regard. Without truth, there is no meaning to much of life’s interactions. I don’t think I am unusual in this regard, but given the recent presidential election, I am questioning that belief. Taking a drone level view of the Loony Bin, I don’t really see any permanent damage that the current executive branch can do to the country. What is done in the next four years can … Continue reading Inside The Loony Bin – What About Truth?

Having My SayLeave a comment

A.B.C.D vs Q.I.U.T.G

RJ Walters

Some people live their lives one way and some another. Some think that for today they need to do A.B.C.D and then tomorrow repeat that sequence and continuing to do that the rest of their days. And then there are others who think that for today they need to do W.Q.E.T.Y and then tomorrow H.P.I.Y and avoiding as many repeats as possible. I don’t know what makes some people A.B.C.D and some the opposite, but I know that my wife is of the former type and I am at the other end. Most of the adventures we have been on … Continue reading A.B.C.D vs Q.I.U.T.G

Redux, XX - Everything Else5 Comments

Aspie Trait #2 – We are honest to a fault

RJ Walters

   We Aspies are usually brutally honest and speak our mind. Our allegiance is to the truth, not people’s feelings. Most people learn not to tell the truth all the time. Sometimes white lies need to be said so as not to hurt friends’ feelings. But white lies just seem immoral or at least illogical to many of us Aspies. Of course, being brutally honest is not the way to make friends at least at a casual level so many of us lack those kinds of friendship growing up. I realize that I sometimes hurt people’s feeling here on RJsCorner by … Continue reading Aspie Trait #2 – We are honest to a fault

Having My Say5 Comments

We Have No Purpose Anymore..

RJ Walters

I have to admit up front that for much of my life I just didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I “grew up”. Strangely, it wasn’t until several years into my retirement that I finally put that question to rest. So, I am NOT the poster child for gaining purpose in life, but maybe my shortcomings in this area might be a lesson for others. A fundamental problem with this country and many others around the world is that too many just don’t have any idea what the meaning of our country is supposed to be about? … Continue reading We Have No Purpose Anymore..

Having My SayLeave a comment

Ft. Wayne, Indiana

RJ Walters

Ft. Wayne Indiana is an interesting town in the northeast corner of the State.  I go there on an annual basis to pick up my supply of Sechler’s Pickle products. I am simply addicted to their kosher dill green tomatoes. During a visit a few years ago we discovered a local museum that had a large section to do with Prohibition.  That is what I am offering for ISOA Saturday today.  Take the time to read the mural included to see some pretty quirky things about my home State.  I will leave the more historical report for a future post. Continue reading Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Having My SayLeave a comment

I’m Skeptical…

RJ Walters

One of my favorite TV shows is about a family called the Rolloffs. The mother and father are dwarfs but only one of their four children is also a dwarf. Molly who is the only daughter used the word “skeptical” quite often even as a little girl. She was skeptical about almost everything. I didn’t use that word much growing up but I too was skeptical about many things I encountered. The show has been going on for about 13 years now so I have watched Molly grow from a young girl to a college graduate soon to be married. … Continue reading I’m Skeptical…

Redux, XX - Everything ElseLeave a comment

Aspie Trait #1: We Don’t All Have The Same Traits Or Severity

RJ Walters

I thought as part of the RJsCorner rework I would add a weekly snippet about Asperger’s Traits.  I want to emphasize here that I am not an “expert” on this condition but I have apparently lived with it most of my life and I have also done quite a bit of study on the topic over the last few months. Since everyone seems to like numbered lists that will be the format these posts will take. The numbers are only the order of presentation and have nothing to do with priority. Let’s get started. It hasn’t always been so but Asperger’s … Continue reading Aspie Trait #1: We Don’t All Have The Same Traits Or Severity

Having My Say3 Comments

Medicare For All… It Just Makes Sense

RJ Walters

Medicare is a system that has been in place for 50+ years. Its approval rating is well above any competition and it keeps the costs of healthcare down. Paperwork which drowns the private sector insurance is very well managed to less than half in Medicare. So, why should we be experimenting with other often radical solutions to our healthcare network in the U.S.?  I will admit that Obamacare was far from perfect. For one thing, it depends on the whim of private for-profit carriers. They say privatizing healthcare will spur competition and therefore reduce costs but that just isn’t happening. … Continue reading Medicare For All… It Just Makes Sense

Having My Say5 Comments

Three Weeks Post Brain Surgery…

RJ Walters

   It is hard to believe that three weeks ago right now I was in a cold sterile operating room with the top of my skull removed to fix a bleeding brain! Long story short, I am doing remarkedly well and anxious to get back to a normal routine. I haven’t suffered any seizures that are somewhat common for brain bleed surgeries and have really not had a lot of pain.  The doctor gave me a prescription for “heroin in a pill” but I have not found it necessary to take any of them as Tylenol has been doing the job … Continue reading Three Weeks Post Brain Surgery…

About Quakers, Philosophical Thoughts, XX - Everything Else3 Comments

A Changing God…A God Who Loves Us All

RJ Walters

I am certainly one of those whose idea of God has changed drastically during my lifetime. I started out as a kid in a Catholic school in the 1950s who was taught that only Catholics would go to heaven. It is certainly not that God is changing but instead it is my idea of what God is. I have gone from the beliefs of “Only Catholics” to one of Universal Salvation. I deem this change as progress, others more fundamental (stuck in their ways) will say it is heresy. Looking at the ages, the concept of God has changed radically. … Continue reading A Changing God…A God Who Loves Us All

Having My Say3 Comments

Week 12 Inside The Loony Bin – Healthcare & The Supreme Court

RJ Walters

 This will be my first “official” report looking at the Washington DC loony bin from a drone level view. Here goes: Healthcare – The GOP continues to try to formulate a health care plan that will abolish Obamacare. They have had 7 years to put this together but like usual in the loony bin, they wait until the last minute. It seems they can’t agree within their own party what it should look like. The RadCons don’t want anything, while others don’t want to cause anyone to lose coverage. I guess they are having a vote sometime today and I’m willing to … Continue reading Week 12 Inside The Loony Bin – Healthcare & The Supreme Court

XX - Everything ElseLeave a comment

Fear vs Hope..

RJ Walters

 It seems my recent brush with death has left me with a different attitude toward life.  We are tragically wasting our lives with our obsession with fear when instead we should be celebrating all the reasons that hope is on our horizon. This should be an age of hope. We are advancing so rapidly in the areas of medicine and technology as to make our future a bright one. Soon we will no longer have to worry about cancer or any number of other infirmities. We will be solving those puzzles with our knowledge of the genome. Technology is replacing … Continue reading Fear vs Hope..

Having My Say7 Comments

Thinking Outside The Box On Education

RJ Walters

  “Thinking outside the box” is a new sub-category within the Crayon Marks category. The term “thinking outside the box” entails a thinking process, which uses an unusual approach to a logical thinking structure. It´s a process which aims to escape relational reasoning,  and rising to another level. There is just too much stuff today where people say “That’s the way we have always done it.” To me, that is just an excuse for being too lazy to try to find something better. One of those areas is in our educational processes. I recently read some articles written one hundred years ago that show we … Continue reading Thinking Outside The Box On Education

Having My Say2 Comments

Destroying The Work of Past Generations..

RJ Walters

My wife is an avid watcher of TV, especially the ‘flipper’ shows where someone buys a house for $20,000 and puts some paint on it and then sells it for $40,000. To me, that very idea is WRONG on so many levels: It Gives People The Wrong Idea — It is kind of like sports in my mind where a kid decides that he will be a professional in basketball/football, you name it. He then spends literally all his waking hours playing that sport to the exclusion of everything else. As a result, he is totally unprepared for life when … Continue reading Destroying The Work of Past Generations..

Having My Say4 Comments

My Misty Morning Friends

RJ Walters

This picture is not a terribly unusual site here at the homestead. We often see young deer come out of the woods behind our house to munch on the front yard. But what was unusual was the very warm February we had when the picture was taken. Now with the Ides of March just past we seem to be returning to something more normal. Didn’t have to use the lawn tractor snow plow at all this year. Continue reading My Misty Morning Friends

Having My SayLeave a comment

Simplicity At RJsCorner

RJ Walters

Even before my recent brain injury and resulting surgery, I was contemplating some serious changes here at RJsCorner.  Quite simply I was getting bogged down in the “inside the beltway” insanity that ruled my world. I now realize that was an obsessive reaction to recent national events that were beginning to overwhelm me. A foundational part of my being is that I am an Aspie.  I demand logic and reason in my life and I saw myself losing both. Something had to change and I have been working on that for the last couple of weeks. Yes, even while my … Continue reading Simplicity At RJsCorner

Having My Say4 Comments

I’m Tired Of Funding The Economic Recovery

RJ Walters

    I spent most of my life as a saver, some would have called me a penny pincher. I drove cars to the end of their life while I saw my neighbors buy a new one every three years or so. As a result, I accumulated enough wealth along with a pension from thirty years in the corporate world to not have to worry about my retirement years. That is until things got totally out of kilter. By kilter I mean when interest rates on savings and CDs went to zero almost a decade ago. I now have all this … Continue reading I’m Tired Of Funding The Economic Recovery