In the face of danger

This is a place for veterans of military service to remember and reflect. War time or peace. Any service.

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Niner
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In the face of danger

Post by Niner » Tue May 09, 2023 11:05 am

I saw this post on facebook. It's from a site that says these, supposedly, deep thoughts for contemplation. I don't really follow it and only see it in the crap facebook throws at my wall to see if I sniff it or not. The post was:
Philo Thoughts

Danger, when it is always imminent, does harm. It doesn't need to actually arrive. You exhaust yourself in the act of forever looking over your shoulder. Your body readies itself to fight and never quite discharges that chemical cocktail. You channel it instead into anger and self-pity and anxiety and hopelessness. You divert it into work. But really what you do, with every fibre of your being, is watch. You are incessantly, exhaustingly alert. You don't dare ever let up, just in case the danger takes advantage of your inattention. I've forgotten what it feels like to have space in my brain for anything other than watching. For a long time I kept working teaching, pitching articles, writing editorial reports and for a while, that felt like a life raft. But then, incrementally, it became impossible. I was aware of a fog descending, a seizing of the gears, but it seemed diffuse until now. ~Katherine May
I answered with a paragraph from James Jones WWII commentary of WWII war art because Jones statement I've remembered as about how I felt about my experience in Vietnam. A soldier in battle is different from somebody who wonders how he is going to pay the rent...and actually, the acceptance of fate is easier to live with and for the most part frees your mind from shutting down when you most need it.
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