The 22

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Despite politicians’ bleating about the War on Terror and withdrawal timelines, the truth remains that we are still at war.  Well into its second decade, it still rages, and like so many other wars it rages in a foreign land far from our eyes and ears and even the western world we know. So, we civilians see the casualty lists but they are just names and faces to many of us.  We love to share patriotic articles on Veteran’s Day and the Fourth of July and Memorial Day, post our flag gifs and decals and rage a moment or two about who loves our soldiers more; the pacifist who doesn’t want to see soldiers die in an unjust war, or the pro-war patriot who wants to see our boys honored with respect to a war they are fighting.  My own opinion has shifted over the years, but this isn’t about the justness of this war, it is about Decoration Day and the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for a country that you and I profess our allegiance to.  Memorial Day isn't Veteran's Day, it is to honor the fallen, our casualties of war, those who gave all.  The problem is that our war dead aren’t just coming home in coffins, they are coming home by all appearances among the living.  They are men and women who have experienced something haunting and carry demons they just can’t shake.  So many of us have become numb to the headlines of our war fatalities, they have lost their luster and we turn to the next headline.  How many have shared and read article after article about a Kardashian, a football game, a Duggar, or a new princess in a country responsible for our first fallen soldiers, or insert some other polarizing and trivial matter.  We can turn the page, click a link, or cut the coverage of war dead off, but there are men and women who can’t because even when they go to sleep at night the war is still there and they can’t unsee the things they saw, the brothers they lost, or maybe even the people they killed, all so we can lose ourselves in some other ridiculousness.  So, where does relief come for them, for far too many; pills, alcohol, fleeting relationships and then what? When that ether wears off, where then?  Too many are joining the ranks of the memorialized, a search for relief leads 22 veterans a day to take their own lives.  I have no idea what it must be like for any veteran returning from war, especially those veterans with wounds and scars we can’t see, but that run so deep they feel them in their dreams, but I know what it feels like to lose one to those wounds.  I know what it is to know one of the 22 and it is haunting and painful.  I know that the guilt is crushing for those left behind, and the statistics make the contagiousness undeniable.  I find my comfort and strength in all things in Christ and would hope to point those I love to the truth of his unflinching love and place for his people.  But, I also want to say to any of those who came home but haven’t really come back…come back.  Let us celebrate you in November, not May.  Turn to us and know you are loved and help show us the best way to honor the fallen on Monday. If you are a civilian like I am, revere Monday with a solemnity it deserves and honor our war dead, take a day off of the trivial pop-culture war you are engaged in and just spread a little love.