Page 116 - Total War on PTSD

True compassion means not only feeling another’s pain but also being moved to help relieve it.” - Daniel Goleman
Courtenay: Another thing that happens to me twice a day, by the clock, ever since I got back from Afghanistan. The numbers shouldn't mean anything other than a measurement of time...every day. 9:11...it doesn't matter if it was morning or evening. It didn't matter if it was something in between...or the numbers without the colon...911 or even the actual date on the calendar...9/11.
Every single time I see that number it seems like my brain is tuned into the time because when I check my watch I am on the dot. But it reminds me of the towers, the people falling, the thoughts that what was happening couldn't possibly be real.
Then I thought about all the lives torn apart, civilian, military, police, firemen and women, adults and children, unnamed heroes and incredulous survivors.
I don't think my feelings about that day will ever change...not unless time itself robs me of my memories in old age.
I really can't decide if that would be a blessing or a curse.
For now, I think maybe I remember it as a way to honor all of those lives lost...lives snuffed out way too soon.
So for all the people who ask...or who say on Facebook...”too many people are forgetting”, there is no way I will ever forget.
I don’t need any photo to remind me...all I have to do is look at my watch. Sometimes, if you can manage, you have to stop wearing one.
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