PRETTY PRAIRIE, Kan. - I feel very fortunate. I look at some of the more unfortunate people in our society and think, "There but for the grace of God go I." I am so thankful that I have had people delivering that grace to me in my life.

Forty years ago, as a young man, I did some very stupid things. I ended up in Federal prison. I could have easily lost my way, but I had friends and family who stood by me and helped me find a better way.

I was lucky; I had friends, family, and a farm to go back to. I remember so many acts of gracious kindness by those who welcomed me back. I had parents who loved me without question. I got a golden second chance at life.

HAYS, Kan. - Even though literature suggests that promoting active patient involvement in care may improve doctor-patient communication and clinical outcomes, in November 2009, a report published by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine suggested that most patients are dissatisfied with the way they receive results of tests and want more access to information in their medical records, specifically, detailed, lay-language results from the tests. (Patients Want Faster Access to Better Medical Records)

Technology has placed vast amounts of medical information literally a mouse click away. Yet what often may be central - a doctor's notes about a patient visit - has traditionally not been part of the discussion. In effect, such records have long been out of bounds.

Now in a new report in the July 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers speculate about the risks and rewards of making clinicians' notes transparent to patients.

GREAT BEND, Kan.- The Fourth of July represents our country's independence and is a great reason to celebrate with friends and family. It is also a great time to think about positive ways to make our country better.

We have the freedom to make our country better in non-political ways. Volunteerism! Big Brother/Big Sister gives people a connection with youth in the community that need a positive mentor in their life, someone they can count on; Meals on Wheels give back to seniors that have given so much to our community already; homeless shelters (40 percent of homeless have veteran status), serving meals once a month, volunteering within the shelter, supplying the shelter with needed items; cleaning up garbage around a river; helping out a neighbor that needs help. The possibilities are endless, all that matters is putting in work to make our country a better place.

GREAT BEND, Kan.- We are all 98 percent (these percentages are not based on any kind of scientific study) the same, we really are not all that different, and no one is really all that special. You are not unique.

There are so many advertisements and books telling us how unique, and different we are that sometimes it is easy to forget how minute our differences really are. As a general rule all of human kind must eat, drink, breath oxygen, blink, pump blood through our veins, and stay active to stay alive. As a general rule we all want the same things, shelter, a decent job, someone who understands us, a purpose for our life. We have the same basic physical structure.

The 2 percent difference is what riles up most of us. We focus on this small difference between us. We allow it to put up road blocks so we become angry with each other. As a rule we all want the basics in life, we just choose to go about them in different ways, ie. types of jobs, types of homes.

SALINA, Kan. - In the United States, 8 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 drank alcohol in the past year, around one fifth used an illicit drug, and 4 million teens under age 18 smoked cigarettes.

A new report gives insight into a day in the life of American adolescents. The study, A Day in the Life of American Adolescents: Substance Use Facts Update, presents a stark picture of the daily toll substance abuse takes on America's youth. It presents facts about adolescent substance use, including initiation, receipt of treatment, and emergency department visits for substance use "on an average day."

Among the report's major findings is that on any given day, 563,000 adolescents used marijuana, nearly 37,000 used inhalants, 24,000 used hallucinogens, 16,000 used cocaine and 2,800 used heroin.

HAYS, Kan. - Is empathy declining among young adults? At least one set of researchers has reached this conclusion. A University of Michigan study shows that today's college students are not as empathetic as college students of the 1980s and '90s. The study, presented in Boston at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, analyzes data on empathy among almost 14,000 college students over the last 30 years.

College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait.

Compared to college students of the late 1970s, the study found, college students today are less likely to agree with statements such as "I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective" and "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me."

EMPORIA, Kan. - Hi, my name is Josh Slaughter, and I have "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome." Now I'm sure half of you laughed and the other half of you are looking for a rope to hang me for being racist. First let me state, it's not my term. That term comes from the United State government who have classified "Chinese Food Syndrome" as a small to no threat to America.

Let me go back though. Let me go back to when it all started, before thousands of dollars of doctor bills. Before the months of enduring more pain than I would ever wish on anyone.

Take a journey with me, through my illness, and be ready at the end for me to call you to action.

PRETTY PRAIRIE, Kan. - As a change of pace I am posting a few poems I wrote this winter and late spring.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - It was supposed to be a quiet Memorial Day, going to the Great Bend Cemetery to decorate graves, maybe a cookout in the evening. But May 27, 2002 started with an ominous call from my sister, a few blocks away at my parents' house: "Something is wrong with mom. She is at the hospital. It may be a heart attack."

My mom? Why she was just 72, in perfect health, to my knowledge. And her Mennonite parents both lived into their 90's. I was worried, but as I headed to the hospital I just knew they would figure out what was wrong and fix it. I probably could have gone into the emergency room and talked to her, but I didn't. I guess I didn't want to interfere with her treatment. When the Great Bend hospital decided to Lifewatch her to Wichita by helicopter, I was really scared, but I still thought---well, I guess I was in denial.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Society's obsession with perfectly plastic people has gotten out of hand. Every day I see hundreds of half naked men and women flashed before me on the television screen, selling me everything from lingerie to toothbrushes. I am not sure what sexuality has to do with brushing my teeth, but advertisers must believe there is a correlation. At the very least they believe I am so dumb I do not realize I am being sold sex.

I have become completely bored with pre-packaged beauty. I have never found great interest in it anyway. A compliment of physical beauty does not hold much merit. Beauty is something we are in little control of. Intelligence and motivation, that is something we do have control of, something that I do put stock into, and consider a great compliment if I should receive either of those.