[TheForge] update and explanation

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

as several have pointed out, i am pretty damaged and broken.

i have sat for 12+ yrs being able to do very little. part of that was
do to the multiple accidents and resulting injuries. part of it was just
a complete lack of financial resources. the november 26, 1996 work
accident which resulted in a state of illinois workman's compensation
claim meant that i was unable to receive any other help. every resource
that is suppose to help those injuried and return to a productive life
were not available because i was suppose to be receiving help under the
state of illinois workman's compensation laws. the engineering
consulting company i was working for on november 26, 1996, had workman's
compensation insurnace in name only. that was the finding of the
commonwealth of pennsylvania court back in 2005. that court decision was
reached after 2.5 yrs of stays of litigation. that meant for 2.5 yrs i
could not even get in front of a judge. the state of illinois refused to
allow litigation while the insurance fraud was being sorted out. there
was no medical care, no physical therapy, nothing. all savings and
assets were used during those years to just keep the home. between
november 26, 1996 and january 3, 2001, i had a major surgery every year
each attempting to fix my left arm so that i would be able to use it.
each surgery required nearly a year of physical torture to recover.
there was many summers i spent with my left arm taped to my body to
allow bones, nerves, muscles to heal.

i have sat back for 12+ yrs now i want to do somethings. i want to have
a purpose in life. sitting on a florida beach everyday is not the
purpose i am looking for. in the 12+ yrs i have met many other disabled
people who like me were just discarded by their employers and society.
several of those that i met over the years committed suicide because of
the resulting disabilites from work accidents, vehicle accidents, etc.

given how broken and damaged i am and the amount of metal and other
medical implants i have in me i am unable to fly in an airplane. the
doctors strongly advise against it. as they point out i am all ready
battling blood clots in the legs and lungs, sitting in an airplane would
just create more deep vein thrombosis (dvts). if i want to travel my
choices are vehicle, train, or cruise ship. i need to be able to walk or
at least stand for several hours at a time. i want to visit more than
just the usa and canada.

with the collapse of wall street and the subsequent collapse of the
international maritime shipping industry , ships are being sold at fire
sale prices. lord willing and everything goes through as planned i will
have three good ships and spent less than $1 million usd.

there is no good place to put the settlement money. real estate is one
possibility but there is only so much land i can manage. i have no
desire to own an apartment building and be a landlord. wall street is a
joke and just as corrupt as the state of illinois. i am not putting all
my eggs in one basket. the settlement money is not even all in the
single bank. it is spread out to avoid issues with bank failures and the
fdic. i am still looking at putting some into precious metals and taking
possession of the metals and placing them in a secure used bank vault
that happens to be for sale.

i know that i cannot help everyone out there. i know that i may only be
able to help a few disabled people find a new purpose in their lifes. i
will know that i at least tried to help.

now concerning the ships. the current crew members have one thing in
common, everyone has some disability in one form or another. missing
hand, arm, foot, leg. we have all been discarded by society as being
broken and damaged. the education of the crew is that two phds in history,
one medical doctor, one retired naval captain, several school teachers,
several carpenters, two machnists.  the other thing we all have in
common is that we all want to show society that we still count we still
have a purpose and that we should not just be discarded with the rest of
the trash.

so there it is. whether i succeed or fail has nothing to do with my
being disabled. it will have more to do with my lack of business
experience and knowledge. just as the crew that is coming together we
will all have a crash course in seamanship and maritime tasks i will be
getting on-the-job training.


-- 
terry l. ridder ><>