We live in a world of “processing”. On any given day, I
process thousands of pieces of information, respond to it (both consciously and
subconsciously) and move on to the next moment of stimulation. I would estimate
that 95% of these instances pass without one extra second of thought, a
fleeting moment in the 18 hours or so that I am awake each day. I watch the
news in the morning, the radio is on in the car, I read the newspaper, I have a
smart phone and yet somehow most of this information fails to make any lasting
impact on my day, let alone my life. However, there are times, when for some
reason I actually think about what I just heard or saw and what it means.
Sometimes, it changes my day. I hold out hope that one of these moments changes
my life.
Today was one of those days. I read an article this morning
regarding Army suicide rates ( www.npr.org/2012/09/27/161853675/army-seeks-to-curb-rising-tide-of-suicides).
Now, any other day I’d say “well yeah, these people are at war, tormented, kill
people and try to return home and live a normal life. No wonder they kill
themselves at a faster rate than ‘normal’ people”. Not today.
Suicide is a curious thing. If you’ve ever dealt with it you
know what I’m talking about. I believe it’s that way because it can’t be
understood, even if you’ve ever thought about it yourself. It’s hard to imagine
that there’s a point when a rationale being can decide that death is a
better option than life. Think about that person, making that decision; that a
viable solution to a problem would be to simply no longer live. I’ve dealt with
suicide before. I didn’t understand why my friend couldn’t come and play when I
was 9 because he hung himself in a closet. I saw my Dad, hospitalized in a burn
unit at the time; discover his best friend had shot himself in the face over a
messy divorce. These things stick with you. So, what’s my point?
My point is that while news outlets, facebook, happy hour
discussions and water cooler banter is focused on NFL referees, who got kicked
off dancing with the stars, whether Obama is a Muslim, bacon shortages and any
other frivolous topic; there are young men and women sacrificing their lives to
allow us to live our life. We know that, it’s not a secret. When I read this
article, it made me realize they are sacrificing so much more; their sense of
self. They are protecting our rights to live the life we want, with the
freedoms we have, so we can play words with friends while taking a shit and
some return home to that very same life and decide that they would
rather be dead. That, I can’t understand. We owe so much more than we can
imagine to our troops. I try to appreciate our servicemen and women but the
phone calls to my veteran friends (including the owner of this blog) once a
year isn’t enough. So stop today and think about what these men and women are
doing for you and the sacrifice they make. Think about the ones that will get
that phone call from a friend on Veterans day and then 6 months later be
remembered on Memorial Day. I did that today and I think maybe this day means a
little more than the others.
-Written by Josh
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