Memorial day and we have a rock concert on Today. Some way to start a day dedicated to vets, but that is part of being a holiday along with beer and brats ads. Facebook is full of remember the vets memes ,but do all those who post them really know why we have this day.I do not intend to lecture, but I sincerely hope they do.
My night classes for the local judo ow contain at least one vet if not more. They are a varied lot.Some seem to have weathered the ravages of war;others not so much. One of the first to take my class started to fine . He ha some steel plate in his skull due to an idd but was ok. As the semester progressed, his physical condition went down hill, he began to walk stiffly, sit only for limited moments and by the end of the semester he was ing a cane. I saw him during the spring semester and he said he was facing a surgery to hopefully stop the losses. Another was more recent, he could not use his fingers easily to write with a pen or pencil but he got through the VA a dragon system that typed what he said.
Those visibly wounded are easier to deal with. It is inner wounded that I feel for every day. One young girl took two semesters to finish beginning comp. Her body language told me when she had had enough and would not be back to class. I finally wrote and sounding I am sure like an officer and told her to get her rear in gear and return. She did but the struggle was there very class. Another young man did the same thing but he did not respond to prompting from me or his classmates. He recently enrolled in a summer class to begin in June but he has already dropped that.He once said he could fix things even things he had blown up but life back here was tough to fix.He really is on my mind today and I pray he does not become a suicide statistic.
They return not completely whole;they are walking wounded. They return to families that love them but somehow expect them to be the same. They are not. They come back feeling a sense of responsibility. That young girl went to live with a grandparent who needed care and the boy who quit is supporting his mother. The other two are in struggling relationships with young children involved. They fight back the terrors, the memories and with a stiff upper lip; they do their duty here as the did it there.
Not one of these people said the VA was bad though I am sure some do. It is not perfect system;they realize this. They are glad it is there with all its flaws but they are not complainers for the most part. They are doers and when they felt the call they did what they felt they should too.
So as you listen to the music, pop a can ,and grill your brats think about the reason behind the holiday.
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