Welcome to the
Henson Family Home Page
This is the Henson family, and this is the our site home web page. Our family has
two adults (my wife, Mary Anne and myself) and four young boys:
Stephen
(age 16), Matthew (age 14), Mark (age 12), and
Sean (age 8). The kids would
also include our cat (Tiger), three rabbits (Lola, Kelly and Bugs), and three dogs (Checkers,
Midnight,
and our most recent addition, Anika). Finally, we have about fifty
mice and two dozen duck eggs - uncertain as to how many ducks will
hatch! I am
a pulmonary, critical care and sleep physician native to Philadelphia, PA
but moved to Cookeville, TN
in 1998. In Philadelphia, I was a physician at the local Veterans Affairs
Medical Center for about 15 years, but left Philadelphia and the VA medical
system for
a better lifestyle in the South working in private practice. It was very difficult leaving my family
and friends in Philadelphia - more difficult than I could ever have thought -
although it was probably even more difficult for my wife and children. We
are still making adjustments to small town, southern life, and being told we
have a "Northern accent." But the people are
extremely friendly, the climate is wonderful, the taxes are much lower, housing
is cheaper, and the pace of living is much easier. This area of the country
is one of the friendliest I have ever met; the people here are so anxious
to help you that it is sometimes even embarrassing.
Our trip to Cookeville was not without incident. We had to battle bad
weather, furniture broken or could not be reassembled,
my having significant, sudden vision loss just as the moving van was disappearing
over the horizon, and my wife losing her glasses and being unable to drive.
While on the Interstate, we forgot to latch the back door of our Suburban and
part of our luggage fell out onto the highway; luckily, we were able to drive
back and retrieve everything from off the road before it was damaged (too much). It was a four-day drive with four young boys, all of whom were very
anxious to get to the next destination. We heard incessant cries of, "How
long 'til we get there?" all the way down.
One of the highlights of our trip south was a stop at the Luray Caverns in
Luray,
Virginia. I remember having been there many years ago as a boy when
traveling down South with my parents. It is a truly marvelous place, with
huge caverns full of stalactites and stalagmites, along with other interesting
rock formations. They have a beautiful organ deep within the caves too,
that was built decades ago using tuned rock formations as the sources of
each musical tone. It was quite wet down in the caves, for it had recently
rained there, and we had to be very careful not to slip, especially while
trying to take care of four boys who were not very adept at staying together.
We were frequently losing at least one boy as he would run off into the
front of the line, or lag behind to get another view at something interesting.
But the caverns truly were spectacular and not something to miss.
Afterwards, we went across the road to visit the Luray
Reptile Zoo. Stephen, my oldest boy, is very interested in all
kinds of animals, especially the invertebrates found in the backyard.
He has had several reptiles in his room, including anoles, newts, and lizards.
We also stopped at the Roanoke
Zoo to look at their collection of animals. Stephen particularly is
interested in animals, and so we thought he might be interested in stopping
at a zoo on the way down south. The zoo was founded in 1952 and became
a non-profit organization in 1975. Unfortunately, however, the zoo
was much smaller than the Philadelphia
Zoo and I think he might have been somewhat disappointed. The zoo was
in a beautiful location on Mill Mountain overlooking the city of Roanoke
and still had a beautiful if somewhat small collection of animals.
One of the more difficult parts of the trip was our stay-over in Gatlinburg,
Tennessee. Gatlinburg is a beautiful town just barely outside of the
Great
Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. Just next to Gatlinburg is a
five mile strip of amusement parks, rides, stores, and swimming areas just
for kids so naturally the children wanted to visit there. One of the most
famous sites near Gatlinburg is Dollywood
- called "The Entertainment Capital of the Smokies." It was opened in 1986, and is now billed as Tennessee's #1 tourist attraction, with good family entertainment.
However, our children's behavior was so terrible while we were traveling
through Tennessee that we postponed these amusement areas until we went
back there again. I find this particular area of the country really beautiful,
and it brings back memories of when I used to visit there as a young boy.
We finally got to Cookeville on a Sunday, and we couldn't even remember
how to get to our house. The hospital had thoughtfully put us up
at a local hotel overnight so we didn't have to spend our first night living
in Cookeville in a house with no furniture. The next day, the moving
van arrived and the real work began. We had to try to figure out
where each piece of furniture - each dissected piece of our former lives
- would fit in our new house. This took many, many hours, and thoroughly
exhausted us all. The kids had a great time getting used to the new
house, and exploring the woods and stream behind the property.
But everything has worked out well finally, My vision has largely recovered
and I see as well as before with new contact lenses. We were able to safely
recover all of the luggage that fell out of our car onto the highway, and
my sons are slowly adapting to their new home, new friends, and new school.
It has been a difficult time for all of us, though, but I like to think
we have learned through this trial to appreciate each other more.
We have learned to help each other through the difficulties associated
with moving to a new location far from everybody and everyone with know
and love, but have come to develop new relationships and new friends who
complement those we left behind. It is as though we now have two
"homes" - one in Philadelphia and the other in Cookeville.
This Web Site represents only the barest beginning of what I hope will be a
life-long attempt to present those things that are most important in my life -
and those things which are probably most important in everybody's life.
This site opens a discussion concerning some of the most controversial topics
today, some of which divide the country along religious, socio-economic, family,
and nationality lines. I hope everybody will enjoy their trip through this
site which I have tried to make a easy - and as interesting - as possible.
There
are six fundamental divisions to the Web Site, each division is its own
"home" to related topics. Each home has its own page which can
be accessed through the buttons at the top of this page, as well as at the top
of every home page. There are five home pages, each of which is briefly
described below: Family, Religion,
Politics, Medicine, Business,
and Links. Additionally, in the left margin of every home
page resides a cascading menu where every home page can be reached along with
every page throughout the entire web site. As you might notice, there is a
considerable amount of information here - about 1000 pages worth at last count -
along with hundreds of links outside of this Web Site to other sites offering
more specific information. Still, the site is a work in evolution and
there are still some areas much more complete than others.
Family
The family is a very important aspect of
anybody's life as it is through out families that we form life-long
relationships, and if we are fortunate enough to have children, have an
opportunity to develop other people from their infancy into responsible adults
who will live long after we have passed from this life. It is the most
important "job" we will ever have, and probably the most
difficult. In this area, I present my family - four sons and my
long-suffering wife. I offer a discussion about each of my children,
including their interests, pictures, and development.
It has become very
difficult to apportion time correctly among my various responsibilities; indeed,
the challenge of time management has become a separate interest of mine.
Men tend to become too involved with their work, forgetting their work at the
office will end long before their work as a father or husband does. Even
though we may tremendous satisfaction and a felling of self-worth from our job,
we need to remember our work outside the home is never as important as the work
inside. In this site, I present some of my study regarding the topic of
time management and offer several ways to organize you time about those things
in life that are most important, rather than those things which are most
pressing. As we climb the ladder of success, we need to be sure our ladder
is against the right building.
Religion
When
we are young, we believe what we are taught regarding God, be that Christianity,
Islam, New Age Philosophy, or agnosticism, or even atheism. As we grow
older, we gradually learn to challenge our earliest beliefs and gradually
develop our own thoughts about God and our relationship to Him. Most
people either continue in the beliefs of their parents, or regard religion of
little importance; few of us, I believe, really examine theology and come to a
critical appraisal of their belief system.
I was brought up as a
Christian, but while entering young adulthood, I had the painful opportunity to
challenge these beliefs. It was during this period that I questioned the
existence of God, why there is so much suffering in the world, why God - if He
does exist - would allow such confusion about his existence and character, why
be a Christian rather than one of the many other world religions, and belong to
a particular church rather than others - or does it matter? After 25 years
of study I think I am finally starting to understand God, and recognize this
will be a process that will take much more than this lifetime - but that's
getting ahead of myself!
In trying to understand whether there is a God, I
take the advice of Paul in Romans 2 and turn to nature; more specifically, I
investigate the new discipline of intelligent design. This body of work
attempts to show that it is more reasonable to believe in God than blind chance
when examining the complexities of creation from the smallest cellular
structures of living things, subatomic particles and the forces holding them
together, to the formation of the Universe at the time of the Big Bang, to the
amazing complexities of physical laws and constants that are seemingly fine
tuned for life to exist. I also examine the controversial topic regarding
our own planet; how its formation, structure, place in the solar system, type of
moon, position in the galaxy and so many other apparently coincidental events
are just right to allow intelligent animal life to form and, even more
controversial, how it is unlikely there may be another planet just like earth
anywhere else!
Since God apparently took so much care in
fashioning the universe, our galaxy, sun, planetary system, earth, physical
laws, and earth history to bring us to where we are today, is there little doubt
He is vitally interested in what we are doing and our future destiny! The
study of end-times, the future of humanity and the earth, is also studied in
this area. Why should we believe in Biblical prophesy rather than prophesy
from psychics, Islam, Hinduism, or from sages such as Nostradamus? Is
there a reason why we should believe the Bible over all other scripture revered
by other world religions, or do they all contain truth such that ultimate truth
is contained in all religions.
Finally, this area examines Christianity
closely. There are many different branches of Christianity each of which
has thousands if not millions of adherents each firmly believing their form has
the most "truth." Why do we believe in one form of
Christianity rather than others - is there one form that is the "best"
- one form whose leaders or members receive special revelation from God, or must
we rely on discerning truth through prayerful study of Scripture. How do
we know truth when we find it - will we receive special revelation from God and
"feel" enlightened that one brand of Christianity is most correct, or
must we rely on intellect, hard study, and years of work to develop our own
thoughts regarding theology so that we might associate with a church that most
closely approximates what we have come to believe? It seems as thought it
is possible to pick a church that will stand for any position regarding any
doctrine from Trinity (or lack), to personal revelation (or lack), to the deity
of Jesus (or lack). Is there a central core of doctrinal truth that defines
Christianity, outside of which a church or "sect" cannot be considered
truly Christian? All of these topics are discussed in this section,
including an examination of major Christian churches along with links to their
Web pages.
Politics
Politics is a central part
of everybody's like in America. We are taxed, policed, and governed
through out own consent - at least nominally. Our government is our
responsibility; if we have bad government who make bad decisions and policy,
then we share in the responsibility of that policy.
There are
currently two major world views which are reflected in our government. The
one world view is that of entitlement; we are "entitled" for some
perceived reason to some consideration from our government, be that welfare,
health insurance, and employment. According to this world view, we are
owed jobs, and it is our employer's responsibility to pay us well - including
the best benefit package we can legally get. Finally, after we have worked
for as little time as possible, it is our government's responsibility to see to
it that we are cared for comfortably during our retirement. This world
view feels that rich people need to be taxed disproportionately higher because
they can afford to be taxed higher and after all, their money is needed to pay
for all those entitlements. The world would be best if everybody were
guaranteed a job, cared for by the government, and nobody had more of anything
than anybody else. That would mean security for everybody and nobody would
be left out. This world view is reflected in the politics of high taxes,
redistribution of the wealth, equality in everything for everybody, and. mandatory
education for children in public schools to ensure everybody gets the same start
indoctrination.
The other world view believes in self-enterprise rather than
being cared for by the government. This group believes that being cared
for by the government means being controlled by the government with little
freedom for self expression or financial self improvement. This group
believes that most rich people got that way through enterprise and
entrepreneurship, and that their success and risk taking should be rewarded with
a better lifestyle. This world view holds that we are responsible for our
own entitlements, and that we should not depend upon government or anybody else
to take care of us. This group tends to take risks, develop new ideas and
inventions, and produce wealth and become the employers of those in the first
group. This group has the money and disposable income to give to charity,
start foundations and scholarships, and develop endowments to help the poor,
send those to advanced education who might not otherwise go, and develop
hospitals and clinics at a far less cost than does an inefficient government bureaucracy.
This world view is reflected in the politics of low taxes, reward of success but
helping the poor, a small, efficient, non-intrusive government, and freedom for
parents to educate their children according to their desires and abilities in or
outside of public schools.
The politics area discusses these issues among
others, and tries to demonstrate that in a democracy, greater freedom and
responsibility for the individual is always the better choice, while being sure
to take care of those who are unable to take care of themselves.
Medicine
The
only things which are guaranteed in life, the old adage goes, are death and
taxes. Since most of us in America life into old age, we can also be sure
of sickness and disease before our death, and care of those who are ill requires
the intervention of medicine. I have been vitally interested in medicine
for the greater part of my life, being a doctor specializing in internal
medicine, pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. I serve in a hospital that covers much of middle
Tennessee providing specialized care in nearly all areas of medicine.
Medicine
is a very difficult profession, not only because it is constantly changing and
intellectually challenging, but also because it requires great physical
endurance. As physicians, we know sleep deprivation is not compatible with
health, and yet we routinely deprive ourselves of rest taking care of
patients. Critical care physicians take care of the sickest patients in
the hospital and are often forced to spend all night at their bedside, and then
work a regular schedule the next day. There is also a section that
deals extensively with the greatest preventable cause of disease in America
today - cigarette smoking. Not only is smoking dangerous to the smoker,
but it is dangerous to all those who are around him including children and
family.
In the section dealing with
medicine, I discuss issues relating to each of my specialties of care, including
sleep medicine. Additionally, there are links to many areas of medicine
which might prove helpful especially if there are questions regarding some
illness or treatment.
Business
Most
families live from paycheck to paycheck with little or no monetary
reserve. Not a week goes by when a large corporation lays off thousands of
workers, many of whom will never find a similar paying job and are forced to
sacrifice their standard of living - along with everybody else in their
family. Other families are saddled with huge amounts of debt, sometimes
through no fault of their own. While suburban American might look wealthy,
the image is often illusory. Most Americans don't save enough, don't
invest enough, and are bound for a poor, boring retirement.
But, in America,
it doesn't have to be that way.
This site will show anybody who they can
improve their lifestyle by improving their income. It is folly to allow
your family income to be dependent upon only one source; rather, you should
increase the number of income streams so that if any one of them drops out, your
lifestyle won't change! Most of these extra income sources don't require
lots of time; indeed, most require very little time. The last thing you
need to do is to take more time away from your family and other
responsibilities.
Links
Everybody has their own favorite sites on the Web - sites that are
of special personal interest or those with something profound to say. My
links pages are a portal to those sites I have found which have special interest
to me, and which I hope might prove valuable to others with similar tastes and
interests. On this site there are links to other link pages such as astronomy,
business, science, mathematics, cigarette smoking and its health risks, space
science, technology, college sites, etc. There is probably something here
for everybody.

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