Brief Thoughts on the Tragedy at Ft. Hood

Yesterday's tragic massacre at Ft. Hood has me thinking about many things: the horror our soldiers endure, the reality of mental health problems in all segments of society, and the clusterfuck that is the reaction to the whole event.

I'm sure I will post more feelings about this later, but for now I want to say two things:

First, I cannot begin to imagine the horror the entire military community is feeling right now. Men & women who deploy overseas, leaving their families behind only to see them attacked...on American soil...on a military base...by a fellow soldier. That is just the definition of horrid. The mental damage done by war alone is horrific, now they have to deal with the frightening memories of this event. It's just very sad. My heart goes out to them. As I was putting my son to bed last night, I had an overwhelming sense of sadness that some little boy had lost his mother or father last night. By the time I awoke this morning, it occurred to me that this is a 'normal' part of military life. Sounds lame, I know. But it occurred to me that I should recognize that this is a reality every week, sometimes every day, in the military. Moreover, it seems every week brings a news story about some horrific shooting, torture, child abuse, serial killer, etc etc etc. So, somewhere a child becomes an orphan...sometimes because they lose a parent; sometimes because they are beaten up by a cruel world.


So, all of that left me feeling pretty shitty. Now I see that the blame game has started. I know this is an understandable human reaction to try to make sense of something so senseless. But really...does it HAVE to follow the same old lame script? The Muslim-bashing, the Obama-hating, the fake patriots who support war then balk and blame when soldiers are killed ... all of it just makes me sick.

I don't know what to do with that feeling. I'm sure the answer will come to me, but for now I'm left with a sick feeling that this is just ANOTHER division in our fragile U.S. psyche.