There has been a conspiracy in this country perpetrated by the media. I am not referring to some right wing or left wing delusion. The applies to something so destructive neither of those extremist groups could ever come up with.
First consider the eagle. It cannot fly without both wings, yet both wings are useless without the center. It is the center that controls everything the eagle does and where it goes. We need the whole eagle to be fully functional and sore above the nonsense that has corrupted the best intentions of the majority.
“When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.”
Winston Churchill
I am not referring to the current political situation. I am not referring to the lies spreading like manure throughout the world regarding the pandemic. We have been fighting a pandemic for decades and the media has been plucking out our eyes so we would not see what has been happening all along.
This pandemic is afflicting over 15 million Americans every year, yet the media remains silent. It is the price too many survivors of trauma are forced to fight feeling alone. It is the pandemic of PTSD.
The media covers reports about veterans with PTSD, but ignore the members of the military with it. They cover veterans committing suicide, however, instead of actually reporting on the facts and demanding answers for the data that has not been included, they ignore the suicides committed while men and women serving this country also commit suicide. Their numbers have remained an average of 500 a year since 2012 despite all the money, hearings in Washington and the media flocking to the same talking points instead of bothering to wonder why nothing has changed.
Oh, but the media is not limiting their ignorance and inability to learn to those two groups. They have failed to report on what the people need to hear, and I, like many others, have reached the point where it is time to demand the truth be told.
Humans suffer after surviving what could have killed them. It is not limited to one cause over another. It is not limited to an occupation over another. It is however, limited to those who had the lives they knew suddenly end and a new one begin with shock, heartache, suffering and endless-unanswerable questions.
PTSD is changing from “everyone else” into a unique club no one wants to belong to, into, God willing, healing. We can actually come out of the darkness happier than we were before because we know what it is like to lose it all and then experience the wonder of healing. Too many don’t know that because the media is not looking for those who have found their way into the healing life.
They report on veterans facing trials for crimes, spotlighting PTSD as a “reason” they did it, while ignoring all the other veterans with PTSD not on trial, not committing crimes and not causing problems at all. This feeds the fear that hiring a veteran could be dangerous. The parrot media clucks out chunks of BS without pointing out that any employee could have PTSD and their bosses have no clue because they’re wonderful workers and good people. Tell the truth on this and they won’t have a hard time finding work.
They report on how veterans are having a hard time finding therapy appointments in the VA, while other reporters point out how they are standing in a long line waiting for therapy from civilian providers, right after reporting on the fact that suicides in the civilian population have gone up every year. In other words, they fail to inform the public that putting veterans into what does not work in the civilian world, will, not only not work for veterans, it may do them more harm than good. You cannot place someone with combat related PTSD into therapy with someone who does not understand that, just as you cannot put someone into therapy for PTSD with a provider that does not understand the difference between what trauma does and what other mental illnesses do.
I have spent so much time fighting to get the truth out, totally unsuccessfully, that finding time to get the truth out that healing can happen has not been successful in changing the outcome.
If you have healed, like I did, it is time to raise your voices above all the media parrots squawking noice. Tell your story. Spread hope and encourage others to heal their own lives.
This summer I wrote two books for everyone else living with PTSD. The Lost Son and Alive Again are for everyone who needs to know they are not alone as much as they need to know they can heal! We can’t wait for the media to do their jobs.
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD
