War

Alcohol. We all know it’s plentiful downsides, but also why people consume it. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, also known by the acronym PTSD, was first diagnosed as an illness in 1980, an all too real and often debilitating, even disturbing illness. Here’s the thing, though, PTSD has always existed. We just didn’t recognize it until 1980.

I cannot truly understand what it means to actually fight in a war, but, I have really tried to understand the best that I can. War is a profound hell. It can eviscerate a human mind, soul and body. I think about the copious miseries, indecencies, and atrocities a soldier experiences and it boggles my mind. Then, you have the sudden loss of a friend who stood next to you, alive, seconds ago, a cycle which repeats over and over. War is unimaginable unless you have had to fight in one.

Prior to the recognition of PTSD, treatment was extremely limited. Accessing help today can still be a real challenge. The unimaginable, horrific memories of war…how do you escape them if you actually are able to survive a war? Well, for many years, alcohol was and still is a prescription. Lots of alcohol. As you quite understandably try to rid yourself of the ongoing, hellish nightmares, that bottle of alcohol isn’t a mere drink, it has medicine written all over it. Too often, the local legion is still the health clinic.

I tell you all of this because we should always honour and assist our war veterans, who have paid a very high price in surviving war. If you have an opportunity to help a veteran, or a veteran’s family, in some way, you should do it. There is nothing glorious about war and we should recognize this, especially since humanity doesn’t seem to to want to stop fighting them. War is a profound hell.