Suicidal Soldiers
The army seems to be paying attention to a new statistic that indicates soldiers are attempting suicide at rate of 5 times a day. Yes, that's right, 5 times a day. The suicide rate among soldiers is increasing the longer we are involved in this military engagement.
Recognizing that traumatic events cause untold damage on the spirits of the sufferer is imperative to understanding and treating the condition. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder causes extricating pain to the soldier and to their families. The impact of their natural response to an overwhelmingly traumatic event continues on in their marriages and among the children of those marriages.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder's Legacy
Violence and abuse to the children of soldiers is part and parcel of the PTSD experience. We cannot afford to ignore the problem of Post Traumatic Stress on the lives of future generations.
So many people want to criminalise wife beaters and child abusers. When we see the immediate impact of trauma on these Vets, perhaps we can re-evaluate the need for this type of position.
What are the implications of this for the rest of us?
It is in our DNA to love and nurture our spouses and our children. If a parent or spouse is behaving differently than this, it would be reasonable to assume that something has gone wrong. Moving into a place of having compassion for how these perpetrators became the abusive "monsters" they are, can perhaps allow us to change how we respond to them.
These soldiers did not go into the war with the intention to become self abusing, wife abusing, child abusing maniacs. Yet this is how they often return. How we as a culture respond to their pain can help us, perhaps, expand how we view ALL of these behaviors from ANYONE.
Stopping the Trauma Cycle
It's not a normal thing to beat a child. If a child is being beaten, odds are, the parent was, too. When we can begin by addressing the trauma cycle and not by criminalizing, then perhaps we can stop the cycle altogether.
Can we really view a child abuser with empathy?
What do you think? What is your gut reaction to the idea that perpetrators need our empathy as much as the victims? Do you understand the tie I am making with returning Vets and other parents that abuse their children and spouses? Comment below and let me know.