by Pastor Dunkin, ©2026
(Jun. 25, 2026) — “From cooking a candlelit dinner to getting a divorce is the saddest road I’ve ever traveled. Any hurdle before and after is just an irritating hangnail compared to* leaving the woman I loved. My life ended that day. I’m nothing but an empty PTSD shell who was brave in war but caved in the end. I gave her what she wanted, but it was the death of me.”
“Lovesick Blues” (2:40)
“And that’s my opening. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to ‘The Pulse of the Nation,’ the place to hear it here first. Zork, Professor Zorkophsky, is our guest speaker who will address our Veteran suicide problem. Isn’t that correct, Professor?”
“I’m afraid not, Pastor.”
“And why not?”
“Because not all lost souls commit suicide, not in the real sense. I’m talking about PTSD killing the dream, where the Veteran can’t cope but, at the last minute, gets a reprieve but by then it’s too late; the ex-wife moved along down the line. That’s right, the demons have been caged, put away. No more sitting in the dark with the muzzle of the weapon in the mouth, pressure on the trigger. Sometimes it’s pulled a quarter of an ounce too much and therein lies a corpse. It happens, for sure unintended, so chalk it up to ‘just one of those things.’”
“How many do you think there are and how do you spot them?”
“There are easily twice as many fence-sitters as there are those ‘going all the way’ every day. They’re easy to spot, sitting alone in a bar, maybe playing pool, socializing without conversation. Safer that way.”
“I understand you wrote a book about it.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I did. I hope it will be a bestseller by this time next month.”
“What’s the title of your new book?”
“The title of my new book is, ‘The Shadow People.’ I’ve been hired to write the screenplay, by the way.”
“Oh, my, congratulations. Hollywood?”
“No, not Hollywood. Some Christian production company that’s not based in California. It’s about all those who came to the edge of blowing themselves away and were saved by Jesus at the last minute. I must say, because Trump is our president, he also has a lot to do with fewer Veterans blowing themselves away.”
“Wow, that’s great. Too bad the Fake News won’t mention that the Veterans love Trump. I’m sorry, but we’ve run out of time. And so, this is your favorite Pastor, along with Zork, wishing each of you a goodnight: Goodnight.
“Good show. Care for an apple?”
[*compared to heart surgery, for instance.]
“June Night” (2:19)