As we journey down our yellow brick roads, life is not a straight throughfare. We will experience bumps and sharp curves. There will be off-ramps and detours. As our country is about to celebrate its 250^th birthday, it is a very trying time for America. We have a president who wants his name on everything. He makes Narcissus look like a well-balanced person.

Trump starts wars like the one in Iran and gets stuck in a quagmire. People throughout the world are suffering due to the Iranian blockade at the Strait of Hormuz. This is a link to the mess in the Strait of Hormuz. The details of tracking the hundreds of vessels just sitting and waiting reminded me of Johns Hopkins University's hourly COVID reports. Trump made his daily report also. On March 24, 2020, Trump said the pandemic would end by Easter.

Trump was correct about the pandemic ending around Easter, the Easter of 2023, after a million and a quarter Americans died.

Joe Biden essentially told America that he was a transitional president. When it came to the next election, Biden had changed his mind. He wanted to serve another term. However, Biden wasn’t honest with America regarding his serving only one term and his early signs of dementia. That was why he wasn’t holding press conferences.

Lust for power overcame good judgment. One would have thought that an honest man like Biden wouldn’t have given in to the lust for power and fame. History would have been written differently if Biden had pondered: what if...and did not yield to the desire for all the pomp and circumstance. He could have listened to those in his administration about not running.

Tragically, several months later, Biden told America that he would not run again. Either Vice President Harris or someone else could have successfully beaten Trump had it not been for Biden wasting time before he had to announce he would not run again.

That is the backstory. In my journey down the yellow brick road, I listen to what doctors tell me to do. Two decades ago, I fell off a ladder, hitting my head on a retaining wall, resulting in a subdural hematoma (bleeding within the brain). I spent four weeks in the ICU at St. Mary’s Hospital and another three weeks at a rehab hospital. Only the last ten days did I remember anything.

One of my family members took this photo several days after the surgery. I could talk and understand conversations. Honestly, I have no idea what I said or did during that month that I was in the ICU due to my amnesia.

One day during my month of not remembering the fall or anything else while I was in ICU, Dr. Simaga, a neurologist, stopped by for a post-operative exam. While I was there physically, I don’t remember anything. So, I asked Michelle, my daughter, about the exam. Michelle said that he asked you whether you knew who the people in the room were. My retort was, "I've never seen these people in my life." It was said in a way that I wanted them out. Michelle said it took Dr. Simaga a moment to process my comment. Then he rolled his eyes as he looked at them, realizing that I was joking. Dr. Simaga assured them that I’d be fine.

After nearly two months in a hospital bed, my journey down my yellow brick road took a long time to get back to normal. What helped me get back my strength to walk was Dr. Simaga’s comment about recovering and getting back to normal.

Even today, I still remember how much I owe Dr. Simaga. He doesn’t recall either my flippant statement about the people in the room or that I would recover. I began to walk each day and gradually was able to circumnavigate the lake on which I live. I still walk around the lake, which takes about an hour.

In the last several months, I have seen two eye doctors. Both visits related to seeing. This story parallels the story about Dr. Simaga. That duality fascinates me. Both eye doctors were dealing with avoiding me going blind.

However, each of the eye doctors observed my situation like Dr. Simaga. And, in their own ways, helped me see as I continue down my yellow brick road of life.

These three medical stories are about me and my journey. What are you doing for people with whom you know or meet? I am offering two different types of mentors to make your journey meaningful. You can select a role model like Trump and his ultra-wealthy friends; the alternative mentors are like my three medical doctors. It is either a self-absorbed person or someone who reaches out to people.

Allow me to tell you about A Ngal Lay, which means, in Burmese, the little one. I carried her around while my family and I visited her village on our family tour together nearly a decade ago.

The little one and her family of four were added to my first family of five. I had a choice to make. I could w/t funds, as I have done for a dozen years, or what if I saved my money until I croaked?

Watch a recent video of the little one.