by Henry, ©2025
(May 10, 2025) — “Reflections of My Life” (4:02)
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to ‘The Pulse of the Nation,’ the place to hear it here first. The really big news is that the ‘Roving Reporter’ for ‘Pulse,’ the most- watched information show in its time slot, was on the verge of going bananas so he’s off to, in his words, ‘tone it down a tad or two.’ Personally, I think he needs multiple ‘tone-it-downs,’ but we’ll see. Meanwhile, the editor has asked me to step in and lend a hand until we can figure things out. I’m sure I’ll have your support and prayers for Roving to get his act together. Now, on the off chance that Roving doesn’t get his act together, well, we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Our featured guest today is one we’re all familiar with, Professor ‘Zork’ Zorkophsky. Welcome to the show.”
“Where’s Roving? I don’t see Roving; what have you done with Roving?”
“Roving went bananas.”
“Bananas? Don’t you know that’s a sacred psychiatric term that is used to up the bill? You’re an amateur and shouldn’t use professional words and phrases. Makes us professional shrinks look like shysters.”
“Sorry.”
“Apology accepted. So, Roving went a little nuts. It happens. Once upon a time I also went nuts. I call it my ‘Wasted Years,’ which happens to be the title of my latest book.”
“Oh, would you like to tell the audience about your latest bestseller? Is that a case of them next to the door?”
“That’s right, I thought I’d give you all a chance to buy the first of them: $19.95, and, as long as I’m here, I’ll even sign them for free.”
“Well, we’d like to know what the book’s about first; is that okay?”
“Yep. The book is about the reason why our Veterans are committing suicide, plain and simple.”
“Tell us if it’s so, as you say, ‘plain and simple.’”
“We send our troops overseas to fight the enemy and we backstab our troops by allowing the same enemy to live next door to them when they come home, that’s why. Listen, after Vietnam, Veterans were doing themselves in — suicide — and you know what?”
“No, what?”
“Most of the suicides were in areas where the Vietnamese settled; I mean, in the general area after we turned tail and ran, just as we did in Afghanistan. At least the Vets back then weren’t subjected to seeing Vietnamese on TV every night and reading about them every day in the newspapers, not like Omar and building ‘Ground Zero’ and Mega Mosques.”
“You may be on to something.”
“Heck, we were over in Kuwait, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan for like 30 years, and PTSD is bad enough without being reminded every day, or even ever, of the cause. I had PTSD, nightmares for 17 years. Cost me my wife and almost my life. I don’t know how I survived. I mean, I thought getting drunk every night was the way to avoid the nightmares. Boy, was I ever wrong.”
“So, how’d you stop, I mean having the nightmares?”
“Just one time, the last time as it turned out to be, I just said to myself, ‘That’s it; no more.’ And it was. Next, I quit smoking, the drugs and alcohol. Been clean as a whistle going on 30 years but I lost my wife in the meantime. I miss her still, but she’s remarried, and I wish her well, the best, really. She deserves it after being married to a louse like me, so all I can do is hopefully get to see her in heaven one day. The Bible says you can’t get to heaven if you eat a bullet, so I’ll just have to live until I die, like everyone else, I suppose.”
“That’s right, just like the rest of us. But you couldn’t help it, I mean the nightmares.”
“I could’ve talked to her, is what I should’ve done but I was too proud, or too stupid, to show weakness; you know, a man isn’t supposed to cry, but sometimes I’d wake up crying and scared, sweating and shakin’. Not fun. I dreaded going to sleep; trust me on that. I go to church and pray that she knows how sorry I am for being a loser. A PTSD sufferer doesn’t have any self-respect and has one heck of a hard time making any sort of plans for the future. Someone with PTSD has no future; trust me.”
“But you made it. You’re nightmare-free, right?”
“Right, but at what cost? I betrayed the woman I loved is what happened.”
“But you’re okay now, right? I mean, you went to school and got to be a psychiatrist, the author of many books; why, you even produced a blockbuster play, ‘The Dandelion War.’ You won many awards and are the perennial speaker at PTSD symposiums.”
“Okay, I didn’t eat a bullet and my life’s work is to make sure nobody else does, either.”
“Now that’s something to be proud of.”
“I hope so.”
“It is, for real. And I see we’ve run out of time, so this is Henry, along with Zork, wishing all of you a good night: Goodnight.
“Good show. All I have is a can of worms that I’m willing to share. No? Then maybe some other time.”