What We Do To Each Other

Today after church I played a different golf course close to the church. This is quite a ways from my son's house so it is not what I would usually want to do but I was there for church already. I started out walking and playing alone but soon I joined three other guys. One of them Bob just passed his 70th birthday. As we were on the green finishing putting a mower not too far away backfired. Bob almost hit the ground and you could see the panic in his eyes. Bob is a two time veteran of the Vietnam war and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. I ended up riding with his brother - in - law the second nine and found out what a rough course his life has been. He is still in counseling and you can see the effect the war still has on him. It reminded me of a guy who used to come into the restaurant where I worked as a teenager who told me he hadn't slept in the same bed with his wife in years. He moved out when he awoke one night with his hands around her throat in a nightmare by memories of WWII. Another golf friend in Myrtle Beach was a prisoner of war when his plane went down in Iraq during the Gulf War. He is on disability and problems, although including physical ones, are mostly emotional from post traumatic stress disorder. I have thought in the past, but was reminded again today, of our need to do more for those who serve our country. We need to be as diligent about those who are effected by war as we do in developing the tools to win the war. I am also reminded that we need to be clear about the human cost of taking military action. So many of us do not suffer the consequences of the decisions and yet are at times to eager to put others into life changing circumstances. I had the privilege on two occasions to be with and help former soldiers forgive themselves and accept God's forgiveness for what they done as acts of war. To see the peace fill them as they were able to set aside that burden before their deaths was a great blessing to me. God loves these men and looks with compassion upon their suffering. We need to do more of the same.