May

29

Where are you?

Filed Under American Patriotism 

soldier-tears-72564711-getty2It was early in the evening, a time when most of us were looking forward to some rest and dinner with our families. A time when we finally had a few minutes for conversation and catching up on each other’s day. In an American town, the police were responding to a domestic disturbance where they arrested a young man who was later charged with drug possession. The drug was an anti-anxiety medicine. Unfortunately, the prescription was not in this person’s name. Opps! This became a Class C felony for a young veteran whose picture of his Iraq experience appeared on Time magazine only weeks before.

For him, like many vets, the combat zone was never far from his mind and heart. Upon returning home, problems continued to plaque the young man. He had difficulty keeping a job, couldn’t seem to stay away from drugs and alcohol, ended up in jail on more than one occasion, and become divorced within two years. Living became too torturous to bear until finally his mother received the news that no mother ever wants to receive.

She had to bury her son too young, too soon.

Stories like this are more numerous than many Americans recognize or acknowledge. An article from the McCormick Foundation stated, “Statistics indicate that approximately 300,000 veterans who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression, and about 320,000 may have experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI) during deployment (Lisa H. Jaycox and Terri Tanielian, Invisible Wounds of War, Rand Corporation, 2008).”  The battle for peace of mind becomes even more challenging for many military individuals upon returning from war.  Most never talk about their experience. Most rarely let others see how complicated it is to live a “normal” existence.  Most never complain.

So think about when a warrior dies alone on a battle field far from home, where are you? When he/she returns home and can’t sleep at night because of the flashbacks and nightmares, where are you? When a mother weeps for a son or daughter she will never again hold in her arms, where are you? When a vet is living homeless on your city’s streets because he can’t seem to hold a job or clear his head of the dreadful memories, where are you?

For most, you are at work, at home, on vacation, living your life in a fairly peace-filled manner, even given our current economic upheaval, you are free. You are safe. And you are whole in mind, body, and spirit. Our veterans gave all of that up for you, for me, for others around the world. Be sure to thank a vet. Be sure to say a prayer for their healing. Oh, and extend a Thank You to the family, because everyday they are giving up their own sense of peace and well-being.

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