“THERE’S ALWAYS HOPE”
by OPOVV, ©2015
(Jan. 18, 2015) — Welcome back. You’ve returned to “The World,” but it’s not like it used to be because you’re not who you used to be. The cradle of your life wasn’t, and isn’t, all lollipops and roses where you shared “in the common good” with all the rest of America.
Wrong. Nobody shared anything with you except experiences in time of stress, which isn’t all that big a deal if you’re in a stressful environment like forever. Once you’ve survived the first attack, then all the others just aren’t that big of a deal.
That said, what happens in combat, or activities associated with combat, can be, and often are, life-changing experiences, not including death or getting maimed beyond belief. This editorial isn’t directed at the physically harmed Vets but those who are, for one reason or another, mentally handicapped to deal with what the brain thinks when asleep.
We’re talking nightmares here. Be assured that the 22 Vets who commit suicide each day had a lifetime of nightmares, irrespective of how long (or short) their lifespan was. The nightmares, or, to be more accurate, the avoidance of nightmares, is what the Vets are escaping from. If you don’t take anything else from this editorial, take this: drugs may mask (hide; delay; postpone) the problem, but it sure as heck isn’t the all-encompassing panacea they’re made out to be. At some time, at some point, the Piper must be paid.
[“Piper must be paid”: hooked; addicted; full reliance; major crutch. Beware: VA acts as one big pill dispenser. One needs an advocate in protecting the Vet from getting “hooked” on drugs that very well may render him a “Zombie.]
A drug, or drugs, no matter if they’re self-administered or administered by the VA, is nothing other than a sorry excuse to not address the root cause of the nightmares. The only way to effect a cure is to talk it through with another who you trust. Trusting another human being is the tough part, for sure, but it’s part of the cure nonetheless. It could be a group throwing the bull at a VA clinic or the significant other. The significant other would be the best choice because he or she would be the most lasting one (hopefully).
The theory is that, with the correct/enough drugs, the brain will remain in a comatose state while the body gets to rest (sleep) in a futile attempt to avoid the inevitable, meaning that the nightmares/survivor’s guilt (and the one that gets the most attention – Thou Shall Not Kill), will somehow be erased by just popping a pill or swilling from a bottle.
Here’s the bottom line: drugs, be they in the form of cigarettes, beer, pills, whiskey, wine, cocaine (powder), meth, morphine or overdosing on Rice Krispie Treats, do not, have not, and will not provide a cure for whatever ails a Veteran who is having a difficult/impossible time “readjusting” to “The World.”
Face it: there’s no easy cure, no “be better tomorrow,” no magic, except to make the effort to spend the time to think “I am NOT going to have anymore nightmares” and mean it. It’s the same thought process of quitting smoking: all the pills and patches in the world won’t help one bit until the mind tells the body, “That’s enough,” and mean it.
Some say there’s no hope, but if there’s one thing that the human spirit has, it’s a ray of hope. There’s still no forgetting; there’s still going back and reliving the past, but all that’s done in the light of day. There’s always hope. Plus we need every Veteran we can get for the fight for our Republic.