I was continually stunned while doing the research on my own book and family story, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story. The referenced book, War and the Soul, gave me pause again and connected the dots. Following is a quote from the last paragraph in this powerful story of insight and healing.
“We must return our charges – our children and our veterans, our deeds and our dreams, our soldiers and our adversaries – to the path of the mystic warrior. And we must do so in the name of healing, reconciliation, and restoration. We must make the pursuit of peace as mythic as the pursuit of war has been. The fate of our world depends upon how we successfully we undertake and carry through this great task.”
We are all responsible for our wars in the context of supporting the health of each and every returning combat or non-combat veteran suffering from the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We especially need to protect our children so that they do not enter society afraid, insecure, and without a true moral compass, resulting from exposure to a toxic home life that often persists when parents return home from war with a PTSD diagnosis.
Steve Sparks
