I'm going to touch on some topics that may make the little hairs on your neck stand up or the goo in your stomach churn. If you follow me, you know I'm not normally a soapboxer, but today I'm feeling the need to speak about some darkness creeping into my heart. I posted a comment on Facebook yesterday and I've gotten some inquiries about it. I mentioned discrimination in this post and it got people kind of in a twitter. I actually appreciate this as I don't want to be considered a bad person. Now, there are obvious forms of discrimination, and those are not the topics I'm steamed about. But, whether you use the term discrimination, profiling, weed out, screening or bigotry, there are certain connotations that come to mind. If you have those thoughts of me after reading this, so be it. I will continue to remind you that it's my blog, my though process and my journal. This is not meant to be a political essay or any type of influential article on the rights and wrongs of America. It's just the humble opinions and emotional thoughts of one New England gal. Take me or leave me.
So what, you ask, has got my panties in a twist? The roll over and show our belly stance of this country, that's what! I use this analogy because my dog is doing just that right next to me, and I keep ignoring her. She comes up, bops my arm and proceeds to roll over again in total frustration. I hope this will give you a visual of what it is I'm going to try to explain.
This country is losing way too many of our own at the hands of "our own". Yesterday, Fort Hood was the victim of yet another inside shooting. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by the horrors of that event, as well as those still haunted by the event there in 2009. This event within our military family was just the icing on the cake for me, the straw that broke the camel's back, the clam that made me sick. See, there had been talk earlier this week of a potential event unfolding, coincidentally also at Fort Hood, which was also an "inside" job. You may remember just some months back, the shooter on the Naval base in DC. My husband happened to be in the building directly across the street from the shooter during that time. Can you imagine the horror of that phone call from him at 3am (in Hawaii) telling me the little bit he knew about the situation, and that he was sheltering in place??? Unless you got one of those phone calls, my guess is that you can not imagine it at all. What you may be able to imagine is the absolute bile in my throat feeling when I heard of the shooting, yet again, on another military instillation. This is where the darkness started creeping into my heart.
Now, not knowing anything about the situation going on last night other than what was on the news. I jumped to the natural conclusion that it was another lunatic taking out his frustrations on the world (now we know it may not be too far off from that). Then my husband came home and we discussed the FBI's investigation from earlier in the week and questions started flooding my head. Let's tackle the easy question first. What the hell are we doing with the soldiers and sailors suffering from PTSD or any other psychological/emotional disorder? The short answer is: not enough. I hear all the time of young soldiers and sailors being dismissed from the military because they threaten suicide, or violence toward another. Some of these young men and women legitimately have issues that truly need addressing. But what about the young man or woman who uses the threat of suicide to get out of their military commitment because they can't handle the discipline? Don't think this happens? Get your head out of the sand! Another question then comes up of, if someone is using the threat of violence against him/herself or others to get out of work, shouldn't there still be a pretty hefty treatment plan in place? Short answer: yes there should, but there really isn't. These kids (spoiled, self-centered, undeserving kids if you ask me) are discharged, maybe put on meds, given some minor counseling and sent out into the world (not necessarily in that order).
I'm a firm believer of more stringent treatment for our vets. I do not believe enough is being done, and unfortunately, I do not have a solution. I hate that. I hate to complain about something unless I can offer up a solution, but this one stumps me. Here's where the discrimination/profiling, whatever you want to call it, comes in, so pay attention. When we have a soldier/sailor that has served a tour, especially in an unfriendly/hostile environment, why are we allowing them to go on for consecutive tours...multiple consecutive tours sometimes? I do understand that not everyone who comes back from deployment suffers from PTSD or another type of emotional/psychological condition, but shit, why are we not screening (there's one of those words folks) harder for it. With all of the vets suffering from PTSD, don't we now have that proverbial stereotype (gulp, another nasty word) to conclude from? It doesn't take rocket science to look at the statistics and see there's a common thread here. Oh, I know there is some sort of actual screening soldiers go through when they come home, but how deep is it and how serious is it being taken? There are tell tale signs of psychological/emotional trauma. I hold each and every member of our armed services to the highest level of respect. All the more reason to dig a little deeper into their psyche to make sure they are still screwed together tight. We are failing them, and if an ugly word like profile, screen or discriminate is what it will take to help them succeed in their own mental health, then friggen use those words people!!!
Maybe a short answer is to screen these kids deeper when they enlist. There are certain characteristics, signs and genetics associated with mental health disorders. Maybe if we profiled a little harder when enlisting these youngsters, we could have a more stable pool of recruits to send into battle. I don't know if this is an answer, truly, but shit, it's something. Maybe if we used a little mental health profiling for kindergarten enrollment we'd have less elementary school shootings as well. Look, as a person who has had my fair share of mental health issues in the past (okay, and maybe just a touch in the present-but more so in the past), I feel I can stand on said soap box and voice my opinion. Out of respect for myself and those around me, there are certain professions and situations that I would not put myself in because of my past and my inability to handle certain situations. Let's show these young people that same respect and weed them out, and get them help, before they hurt themselves or others.
I'd love to discuss my quirky thoughts toward religion, but I stand by the adage that you just don't talk politics or religion in mixed company. Suffice it to say, if you read about the FBI investigation last week, you will know that I am highly opinionated on that. I'm a believer of not fully opening the gates to this country to every Tom, Dick or Harry who wants to come in. I'm a firm believer that extremists (pay attention to this word. I did not say practitioner, I said EXTREMISTS), be them Muslim, Jewish, Catholic or Black Magic, or any other form of organized anything, are still extremists and pose a threat to society. I am also a firm believer that people with certain beliefs and allegiances should NOT be allowed to enter into OUR country's military! If that means that we profile, discriminate, weed out or screen people for these beliefs or allegiances more diligently, then so be it. I am sick beyond words about hearing of our own being killed by "our own", about how we have trained "them" in OUR military system to go out and engage in an act of terror on OUR country. I would like for you to take note that I did not specify any particular group, religion, nationality or race in this paragraph. Dig deep here people, if you read this and a stereotype of some sort didn't pop into your head you are either truly kind hearted (bordering sainthood), naive or a liar. I ask you to dig deep because you are reading my words, no one needs to know your own thoughts so you may as well be honest with yourself.
I don't write this to dig up emotion in you. I write this to calm the emotion within me. Do I like that I have such harsh feelings toward stereotypes? NO! Do I like that I have such negative thoughts toward groups or types of people? NO! Do I accept that I am human and not immune to those stereotypes, both in my acknowledgment of them as well as my fitting in to some of them? Yes, I truly do accept it. I'm human! I watch the news. I hear my husband and his friends discuss life in our military. I see the damage that damage does to a person. Damage of mind, damage of soul, damage of moral compass or ethics. It's all the same...damage. What do we do when something is damaged? Well, I don't know about you, but my first thought is to try to fix it, not so much throw it away. All I'm saying is that if we have that much damage within the very system set forth to protect us from the damage, don't we need to take a deeper look into how we allowed that to happen. I don't mean politics, I mean the actual recruitment and enlistment process. Let's hold our standards just a little higher and a little tighter. Let's stop showing our belly to anyone willing to scratch!
Life's a beach, and then you live on one...
I am a Red, White and Blue blooded American with nothing but the utmost respect for the soldiers and sailors that protect my freedoms and defend my liberties. I hold my head high and solute those who serve, and have served, on the front lines, as well as their families. God bless this beautiful country, America!
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