PTSD, Massacres and Damage to the Soul

Are we all crazy?

Courtesy: CNN

(PORTLAND, OR) - The enormity of the horrible massacre at a Connecticut school really hasn't hit many people yet, but the TV and news coverage that this "has broken our hearts" is appropriate. When a long line of firemen, in remembrance to one of the children, stand with hats in hand and some with tears in their eyes, it should tell the rest of us that this is a horrible meaningful event should not be lost in time. I will admit that I sat with eyes glued to the TV weeping for the loss of these children and their families.

Some might think erroneously that a Combat Veteran like myself, after seeing many dead and torn bodies many years ago, might be immune to such deadly violence. This is not so, I am sure that many Combat Veterans, as well as firemen, policemen, ambulance workers and emergency room workers wept as I did.

My question, "Are we all crazy"? should be at the center of our thoughts. Why would an obviously deranged person be freed in society? Why would he have access to combat weapons? There have been far too many massacres like this in the past few years, yet in our collective craziness, we have allowed these massacres to continue, obviously unabated.

To blame one political party or the other is another part of the craziness. We seem to be all crazy about this.

The horror of this last massacre has not only reached our minds but also our souls, and more than any other causes of PTSD it will be with our souls for a long time.

One hopes against hope that finally this savagery will be abated. Military assault rifles have NO PLACE in the hands of modern civil society. They probably are necessary in the military because we know that our enemies have them. We also know that our criminals have them, but usually, regular police do not. An answer to this is that the use of assault weapons should be a capitol offense. That will slow down some of these criminals.

In the meantime, we weep for the current dead and maimed.

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