Tony Hernandez dot co

Category: Thoughts

  • Save (More Than) One Life

    Save (More Than) One Life

    Style note: As always, the author intentionally misspells the pronoun i by writing it in lowercase

    In the 41st week of 2025 AD (early October) i went to Europe. More specifically, i went on a dual humanitarian mission focused on helping the people of Ukraine.

    The first and most important part was being an escort for a great-grandmother to honor her fallen US Marine son who died near the Russo-Ukrainian War frontlines. The second part was to help people with hemophilia, von Willebrand Disease (vWD), and other bleeding disorders.

    How’d I Get Even Get Into Ukraine? And Why?

    The grandmother i was escorting is a coworker of mine, Sochi. Her son, USMC Ian Tortorici, was killed on 27th June, 2023. He was on a short leave and having dinner at RIA Pizza along with some other 80 people when an Iskander SRMB (short-range ballistic missile) hit the parlor, killing 13 people, including award winning author Victoria Amelina and Ian. An Iskander is the spiritual successor to the infamous Scud missile. A weapon of that magnitude targeting civilians is an all too common characteristic of Putin’s literal use of overkill.

    USMC Ian Tortorici’s Pictured Here With Ukrainian Call Sign / Nom de guerre, Торторічі, in Cyrillic on the Russo-Ukrainian Frontlines

    In the coming sad days, Sochi heard from Ian’s Ukrainian fiancé, Nadiya, that there were several memorials for her son in Ukraine. Sochi told me that she would like to visit them one day. That got the cogs in my brain moving. I understand all too well that the Russo-Ukrainian War is the “Freedom Front” being fought on the world’s stage. I wanted to help. And, if i’m completely honest, i wanted some adventure as well. I’m, one, a male and, two, without children. In my eyes, that makes my life expendable, so going to an active warzone was an easier choice for me than for others.

    Myself And a SeaBaby Drone in Front of The World War II Museum. Ironically, In a Wonderful Circumstance of Providence, Less Than Two Months Later A SeaBaby Would Carry Out Her Most Successful Operation and Take Out One of the Russian’s Shadow Fleet Transports

    But how would i get there?

    Well, whenever i travel, i try to do two things. One, check out the local sports’ scene and, two, try and see how things are with the local bleeding disorders community.

    People think i’m ambitious. I guess. More than not, i’m just stubborn. Like, really stubborn. If i want something, i nearly always get it. It’s not because i’m good at everything, that’s for sure, but i get good at several disciplines and i nearly always get the diverse things i want. How? By asking and trying and eventually failing. But then i repeat the process. Do it enough, you’ll get what you want. Even if it is after the 100th time.

    So i sent a mass email to anyone and everyone i could find online in Ukraine that worked in hemophilia. Doctors. Treatment Centers. Bloggers. You name it. I reached out to 23 people. I got 22 denials. Fortunately, i received one response. And that’s all you need. Sergiy Shemet, a board member for the Ukrainian Association for Haemophilia and Haemostasis ‘Factor D’, UAHARD, reached out to me.

    Blood Brothers and Sisters Inside the Lobby of Hotel Ukraine, Where the Russo-Ukrainian War Started: l-r Nina, Sergiy, myself, and Mikola

    I immediately addressed the elephant in the room. I told Sergiy and Nina (another volunteer with hemophilia) that i understood the skepticism about me reaching out. Russians are the worldwide experts at digital espionage. Every person that reaches out to help those that are fighting for our western freedom are more like than not spies for the enemy, pretending to be someone who they are not. I knew that the burden of proof was on me to show that i was not a bad faith actor. I shared my limited personal social media accounts and shared pictures. We talked and they began to trust me, although with heavy doubt, as they rightly should. The turning point in our relationship was when Sochi got involved. There was no denying that her son had been killed. His fiancé in Ukraine could vouch for him and for herself. Once the hemophilia group i had been talking to started talking to Nadiya, everything started to fall into place. Once the Ukrainians started talking to other Ukrainians, they started to understand that i was legit.

    The Photo That Made Headlines Across Europe: Nina, Infusing her Daughter As Their Home Was Being Attacked by Russian Forces. This Image Made An Impact Across the Continent That, Not Only Are Everyday Lives Under Attack, So Are Those With Chronic Medical Conditions. Von Willebrands and Bleeding Disorders Helped Crystalize This Tragedy to All of Europe

    As for the why, it’s pretty simple. Nearly 100 years ago a madman invaded Eastern Europe with his eyes on ruling the world, with his ultimate goal of destroying America. Today, a madman has begun his invasion of Europe through the east with the same goals. Less than a year ago, all students in Russia started to begin their classes with the phrase, “Death to the West and death to America.” That is the reality to this very day. We all watch movies like Saving Private Ryan and tell ourselves that we would have supported the side of the Allies. Every reason and justification that we had to fight in the European Front of the Second World War is the same reason today to fight in today’s European Front of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Since i have eyes and more than one brain cell, supporting the good guys and wanting the bad guys to lose is an easy choice. For me, at least.

    Nadia and Sochi, Ian’s Fiance and Ian’s Mother, respectively, With Ian’s Kit On Permanent Display At The World War II Museum In Kyiv, Ukraine

    Save More Than One Life

    This brings me to the amazing work of many partners, but i would like to highlight one in particular.

    But before that, a brief note on our main mission, honoring Ian and other fallen innocents.

    In the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, there is a monument called The Maiden. Outside The Maiden is an organic memorial. Literally thousands upon thousands of flags and photographs of the fallen. We visited Ian’s makeshift memorial there. We also visited his church where he prayed and worshiped since he converted to the Ukrainian Church and there’s a picture of him along with the other hundreds of dead parishioners. Finally, we visited his memorial at the WW2 Museum. Not only did we honor Ian, we also attended the American funeral of Kyzyl Bowden, a 22-year-old U.S National Guardsmen. I can write a book about the sights and experiences of bravery and courage we witnessed. Needless to say, it was an honor to honor and respect those who are still fighting and dying in World War Two. That war may have ended for Americans, but not for others.

    The second reason i was there was to help the bleeding disorders community. We weren’t sure how to help. Visit hospitals? Visit associations? Finally, we settled on meeting with Sergiy and Nina and they introducing me to my fellow blood brothers and sisters. But that wasn’t all. Sochi and i brought along a ton of factor to donate to the people of Ukraine. This was done through the amazing work from the equally amazing women at Save One Life.

    Save One Life provided so much factor that, my carryon was nothing but factor and my toothbrush. Seriously. The factor was then distributed to three different families in three different regions of Ukraine. One such factor delivery was sent to a young man who was recovering from surgery. Had it not been for the generous donation from Save One Life, that young man may not have been here with us today. I have no words.

    Fourteen Year Old 8th Grader, Pavlo Papucha, and His Father With The Factor They Received From Save One Life
    The Horse That Pavlo Drew For Me As A Thank-You. I Have Never Met Pavlo, But I Have Asked Him To Hold Onto This Drawing. I Will Get It From Him Personally Once This War Is Over

    To clarify one thing, Save One Life has official partners around the world. Right now, Ukraine is not one of them. It’s not that Save One Life does not want to help (obviously) but it’s more of a paperwork, logistical thing. The folks in Ukraine understood this as well. There would be no (for now) supporting of individual children, no continued visits and factor support in the upcoming future. And that’s fine. In fact, that just proves how amazing Save One Life is.

    Save One Life could have easily said, “Ukraine is not an official partner at this time. So we cannot help.” Totally acceptable and understandable. Instead, Save One Life did help and tremendously so. The pessimist might think, what good is one shipment of factor? The honest person would see the truth. Save One Life literally helped change and better the financial situation of a nation under invasion for at least three months if not more. Think about that. Save One Life’s donation helped ease the massive burden of helping those with life threatening illnesses. Their donation helped defray medical costs across an entire nation’s medical system. Their donation helped Ukrainian medical staff focus more attention to the wounded.

    In short, Save One Life has saved several lives and helped ease the burden of those under attack in Ukraine. They didn’t just help, they helped change the world into a better place. I can only wish to have that type of impact one day. It was tectonic.

    I close by saying thank-you to Save One Life, but that feels terribly inadequate. There just isn’t enough words in the English language to truly explain the Earth shaking good work that Save One Life does for the bleeding disorders community. These little black marks are just a poor man’s attempt to shed a light of greatness that the great women at Save One Life have done and continue to do.

    Thank-you is not enough, but trust me, the people of Europe under siege do appreciate the colossal affect that Save One Life does day in and day out.

  • Today’s Article: A YouTube Comment?

    Style note: As always, the author intentionally misspells the pronoun i by writing it in lowercase

    I need to get back on track with blog posts/articles on this here blog. I also need to start doing newsletter which i’ll probably post here as well. We’ll see.

    But, yeah. Today’s article (forgive the pretentiousness; cannot stand the word blog; sounds like a noise you make while vomiting) is going to be a copy and paste of one comment i made on two different YouTube videos.

    As of late, i have been obsessed with one particular thing in this, the 2,025 Year of Our Lord. And that obsession is anti-intellectualism. Or, how much we celebrate and reward uncouthness.

    I’ll be getting more into that at a later time, but for now, i wanted to share my exact comments that i left on both videos.

    These videos are a must watch and they are rightfully critical of intellectuals and those that call themselves that. My point is, that while that is a problem, the most glaring problem in the United States right now is how being dumb is not only lauded, but awarded.

    Anyway, i will leave you now with the comment i put on both videos. The links to the videos are including at the end of the comment below.

    t.h.

    ❧

    Dear Dr. Ana and Mark,

    Let me preface this comment by emphasizing how spot-on and correct you both are re: intellectuals and your critiques about them. I cannot find a single fault in either of your diverse takes and approaches to the problems re: bad intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals.

    However, this message is the whole cart before the horse idiom. We need to have this conversation later. While intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals need scrutiny, i believe that the number one problem facing our world is the embracement of anti-intellectualism.

    The irony is that, both your videos inadvertently address my concern by putting a splash of water on the fire of anti-intellectualism while at the same time giving the anti-intellectualist movement a gallon of gasoline.

    As i’ve said, my bane is anti-intellectualism. And anti-intellectual plebs get their talking points from false messiahs, intellectuals who get it wrong and pseudo-intellectuals.

    Again, chapeau on on calling out bad actors of intellectualism. However, the thing we should be focusing on, in my opinion, is the anti-intellectual movement that has taken over the west, and is the primary default of American society circa 2025. Right now, society embraces and cheers on the dullard. That’s cray-cray.

    So while you guys do go after the head of the snake of anti-intellectuals— poo emoji intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals—we’re not smart enough to see the nuance that the biggest culprits are the ones feeding these faux-intellectuals; the anti-intellectual masses. I, and most people, i assume, would love to see you guys tackle anti-intellectual, the largest problem in the United States right now (i think).

    Duces ma gooses!

    Tony Hernandez

    Link to Dr. Ana’s video: https://youtu.be/odPnVhT_YAc?si=HzzXLbO6jYx_wp57

    Link to Mark Manson’s video: https://youtu.be/dqs8D3xfxsc?si=kXiuYJ3KDMaA12_P

  • Ghostwriting

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    In the near future, there will be a scandal in literature, I predict. I’m not sure if that’s in fifty years or in two hundred, but I feel it will happen one day. So far, I have zero proof that it is happening on a major scale but I do think it is happening now as we speak.

    What is this conspiracy theory that has me wearing tinfoil on my head? Ghostwriting, and to be more exact, that major, blockbuster writers are actually frauds.

    First, what is a ghostwriter?

    As the name implies, it’s a phantom force that does the writing for someone. No, not a literal ghost that floats in a white sheet but someone else who writes for you.

    Ghostwriting has been around for a long time. And as long as it’s out in the open, I see nothing wrong with ghost writing, as long as the reader is made aware.

    Most biographies are co-written, meaning they were ghost written by another author. I’m sorry, but that reality star from Jersey Shore probably really didn’t sit down and write down their autobiography and was, more likely, just a recorded interview that was then later written by a ghostwriter. Sorry to break your heart.

    But as I stated earlier, as long as the ghostwriter is acknowledged, usually following the non-writer’s name with a “with” I think there is nothing wrong with that. What I am suggesting is something more sinister. I’m suggesting that full on authors are not writing their books and are not who they claim to be.

    I first came across ghost writing as a Tom Clancy fan. He had a new book out, Op-Center, and I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into it. After the first chapter or so, the book felt weird. It just didn’t seem like Mr. Clancy. It was as if his writing was…off.

    I then see that it was co-written with another gentleman and upon reading the notes, it became clear the Mr. Clancy was more of an adviser than a writer on the project. I felt had at the time, but in retrospect, Mr. Clancy did nothing wrong. The co-author was right there, on the front of the book. Clancy fans would later dub these “asterisk books” since they weren’t really written entirely by Tom Clancy. And that’s fine. I think its great for an author to brand him or herself and become their own little empire. If a director can produce poor sequels and have the money come in by not doing any of the actual work, why can’t a writer?

    However, later on I saw that Glenn Beck had written a book of fiction. This had me floored. How could a man, with a radio and television show be able to write a bestselling book? I looked right there, right on the cover, and Mr. Beck’s name and his alone was on the cover. My spidey-sense tingled that something wasn’t right.

    As I did a little bit of research I found out, yet again, that there was no secret. Mr. Beck openly talked about that he didn’t actually physically write the books but they were written for him, based on his ideas. He even credits them inside the acknowledgments.

    So I was wrong to assume that Glenn Beck was a phony, trying to pass himself off as a fiction writer. But that still got my wheels turning.

    Doing an Internet search, however, one does come across plenty of ghostwriters who make small fortunes deceiving readers. These writers, write some of the bestselling stuff out there and have someone else’s name on the cover. This is what I’m talking about. And this is what bothers me.

    As for the actual ghostwriter, I don’t feel that they are to blame. I completely understand creating something, getting a check, and then passing along the glory to someone else, someone more marketable. But the real villain is the person acting like they wrote the book.

    No one has been outed, yet, but it’s just a matter of time before they are.

    Sure the faux-writer has made the ghostwriter sign a million pieces of paper that he or she can’t disclose the fraud. It may even last a hundred years until everyone who is involved is outed. By then the ghostwriter and phony writer would be dead is dead. But what then? What happens when the years past and the truth comes out? Why aren’t these fake writers afraid of that?

    Think about your favorite author (if it’s me, thanks for reading mom) and now imagine that you found out that he or she is a complete fraud, that they had someone else do the work for them. How would you feel? Deceived? Angry? All of thee above?

    And that’s what I just don’t get. Why do it if you’re gonna get caught? And trust me, you will get caught. Maybe not now, but eventually you will.

    Don’t worry. I don’t think it’s any one of the major writers like JK Rowling or Stephen King. These guys have written extensively about their writing habit. But I do see that some more, less famous writers will be made out.

    And that’s what stuns me. When you and I are dead, do you want the world to look back on you as a fraud? I mean, sure, during your lifetime you had the fortune and honors of being a writer but what then? What about your legacy? All the work you may have done, either big or small, will be tossed to the trash bin of history, just another fake who wanted fame and fortune in their lifetime.

    So that’s my fear. One day these writer’s will be found out. The public will cry out (as well they should) and then it will make all writers suspect. And that’s what burns me the most. Here I am, year four, five, or six, (I’m not sure) of slaving away and learning the craft and then some bozo is gonna through me and everyone else who worked hard into a shadow of doubt.

    I guess the only solace that any writer and reader can have is that these people will be outed one day and with it, their legacy shamed. And there’s nothing worse than that, in this lifetime at least.

  • I Am Not a Nice Person

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    I am about to do something that is not nice. It’s not mean, but it’s not nice either. What is this thing I am about to do that isn’t nice? I’m about to tell you something nice I did. Let me explain.

    As many of you know, many of my friends are Jewish. One of my first Jewish friends, Michael Rosenthal, taught me a very prolific thing in Jewish culture, the mitzvah. A mitzvah is good deed, basically. Once, while we were at a summer camp, I noticed that a building was paid for by an anonymous donor. I pointed out how foolish this was to Mike and he told me that one of the biggest mitzvahs is giving your money without the recognition most attache to it. That lesson has stayed with me all my life.

    I guess it all goes back to the thinking that, if you do something nice so people can see and say you did something nice, then you didn’t do something nice at all, and I agree.

    So that is why I am about to do something that isn’t nice. That’s why I am about tell you about something I did that was nice.

    After nearly two months, my blinds came in. The guy who installed them is named Jim. Jim is an amazing person with a huge heart. He told the story about how he lost his only daughter to liver cancer. He has only one grandchild, Wyatt, that she left behind. Touched by this story and just at how nice Jim was, I decided to buy us both lunch. He happily agreed.

    As I went to the Thai place to pick up my food, I noticed that my debit card was missing. I panicked briefly then remembered where I thought I had left it. I went back inside my building, explained to Jim what happened, and asked him if I could borrow twenty bucks. Lunch was still on me, but let me borrow the twenty spot and I would get my debit card and his twenty back. He agreed.

    After lunch I went to the store where I left my card. I had to send a fax to work and left it inside the automated fax machine. As I walked out of the business center, it was fortunately right next to my bank so I would avoid those troublesome ATM fees from other competing banks.

    As I walked down the street, back to my place, I was going over the thought of giving money and not telling people. This lunch that I was buying Jim would be between God, him, and me. If I tell anyone else, it wouldn’t be a nice act, it would just me doing something to get attention and praise, the complete opposite of something nice.

    As I walked back, a timid man began walking next to me. He asked if I had any money. I didn’t want to lie so I just told him that I was sorry.

    The homeless man smiled and said thank you and continued to walk next to me. He commented on how hot the weather was becoming. I could just tell he was a pleasant guy looking for a quick chat so I started asking him about his day and how he was doing. He told me the shelters are full and there isn’t any space for him. He also told me that it was a good thing since he didn’t want to be around that. He told me how he had had food poisoning and was finally feeling better. I think that’s when it hit me. Even a starving man could get food poisoning. With that, I told him the truth. I told him I did have twenty dollars and for him to have it. He left me with God’s blessing and I went over to another ATM. I still had to get Jim his twenty dollars.

    After I was hit with the three dollar surcharge on my next twenty, I was nearly home. All these thoughts of doing nice things for others were swimming in my mind, first Jim and then the homeless guy. I began to tell myself how great I was and how much better I was than some of my other friends. Some of them don’t give money to homeless people, something I think is horrible.

    Just as I was telling myself how wonderful I was, I saw her eyes. It was another homeless person, this time a lady. As we got closer and closer her eyes didn’t let go.

    “Excuse me sir. Do you any change to spare?”

    “No, I’m sorry. I don’t have any money on me.” I said, lying.

    My inner dialogue was telling myself I can’t give forty bucks, forty-three if you count the surcharge, to two homeless people in under five minutes! I’m not made of money! I mean, my kindness only goes so far!

    And soon enough, I was home handing Jim a twenty and not feeling too good about myself.

    So what’s the moral of the story? It’s not to make you feel sympathy for me, that’s for sure. Is it a happy ending since I did a little good or a sad ending because I’m a hypocrite for not giving that lady money while I was judging my friends’ past actions?

    I learned a lot of lessons inside those fifteen minutes. I learned that I was wrong to think I was better than my friends for giving to the homeless. I learned there is only so much we can do, no matter how well our intentions are. I learned I was taking away the nice thing I had done when I decided to share this with you.