Four Little Letters

As always, I've been doing A LOT of thinking about Veterans and PTSD. As always it is somewhat disheartening to think of all the Veterans out there who are not getting help for it. I absolutely despise the fact that 4 simple letters carry the amount of negative energy that these one's do. It's a tragedy that these 4 little letters are synonymous with weakness, shame, and a shopping list of other stigmas and stereotypes. Their power is so great that many of my brothers and sisters in arms choose to take their own lives rather than face a life carrying this unfortunate label. The current rate of Veterans suicide is 22 a day! That equates to damn near one an hour. This is absolutely unacceptable to me, however, it is also completely understandable to me. I have been there, and I truly know that hopeless and incredibly lonely feeling. Call it the grace of God, good fortune, or some part of my soul that absolutely refuses to give up or accept defeat, call it whatever in the Hell you want, but know that I am living proof that this affliction and it's labels and stigma's do not have to be what defines you. If not my example, then use the undeniable argument that is math and statistics of 22 a day, and realize that you are NOT ALONE.

With that being said, today I am officially asking that you take a stand. Not just the OEF/OIF Veterans, but EVERY Veteran out there. I'm not even going to stop there, if you are a current service member in any branch of the military that has not deployed, or you were a someone that served and did not deploy, or you are the family member of anyone that falls into any of these categories, or if you know anyone that falls into any of these categories, I am asking you to take a stand. I am even going to take it one step further than that, if you are a living breathing AMERICAN who can recognize that the mere 1% of our great nation who choose to serve in the Armed Forces deserve nothing but the best that life has to offer, I am asking you to take a stand.

In asking you to do this I am not asking for much. All that I am requesting is that you start showing your support for the 1%, that you start helping break down the unfortunate barriers, stereotypes and stigmas that 4 little letters carry. We are the greatest nation on the face of this Earth, we can and will defeat any enemy, foreign or domestic, that poses a threat to our way of life. Lets start by raging war on these 4 little letters, let us come together as a nation, as one people and remove all the power that 4 little letters can carry. We have defeated every enemy that we have ever faced, there is a reason that we do not show our palms to the world when we salute, I have to believe that this also means that we can defeat a simple stereo type. Four little letters.

I am going to start by reaching out to those with whom I have served, in particular those that I have deployed with. You are my brothers and sisters. I know that not all of you came back with issues related to these 4 little letters, I get that. But when we were in a combat zone you had my back and I had yours. There is no doubt in my mind that there is nothing we would not have done for one and other to ensure our safe return home. No enemy, weapon, or Army we would not have faced to ensure the safety of one and other. You stood by me in that God awful desert in one way or another, and I stood by you. Now that we are home I am asking that we continue to do so. Our war is no longer in a distant desert on the other side of the world, it is here, at home, against 4 little letters. Today all I am asking of all of you that deployed over seas is to register with the IAVA, help show our strength in numbers via a program that has been developed completely with us in mind. If you have a digital copy of your DD-214 it literally takes less than five minutes to complete the registration. If you do not have a readily available digital copy of your DD-214 it will take even less time, but they will still let you register. The second thing that I ask of you is to start attending the various gatherings that have been organized for, and in many cases by fellow Veterans. Be it a support group, yoga, run/walks, BBQ's, anything Veteran related. I regularly post the dates and times of these events on my page, which if you are reading this, then chances are you are aware of it. If not, and this has been shared then you can find me on Facebook by searching for Phil Ritzert. Even if you are not struggling with these 4 little letter issues come and show that you still care about the people whose lives you once defended along with your own. Take a stand with me against an enemy whose only power is in what people believe its power to be. Together we can strip these 4 little letters of their power and defeat them all together.

Much Love,

Phil

Fear

FEAR

I have been thinking a lot lately about fear and what a terrible and controlling thing it can be. Fear can be defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. I think that this a pretty good definition for such a thing. Fear has been ingrained in us since man took his first steps on this floating rock of ours, it is an unavoidable part of the human condition. Oddly enough, the catalyst for this recent subject of thought was a movie I watched a couple of weeks ago, "The Croods." Yes, I am aware that this is a cartoon and in no way shape or form a historically accurate portrayal of our ancestors or their way of life. However, it is my opinion that the mantra that this family lives by is: "Never be not afraid." This mantra seems to have been passed down both consciously and subconsciously through every generation of human beings since the dawn of time. This is absolutely understandable if you ask me.

How terrifying must it have been to be a caveman! Think back to such a time, instead of four constructed walls and a roof they had caves. The closest thing to electricity being delivered to these early dwellings might have been a bolt of lightning striking a tree near the cave entrance. Running water meant living near a creek, river, lake or ocean. Clothes, if worn at all, were likely the skins from the animals they hunted for food. So much of what we take for granted now hadn't even been formed as a thought back then! Everything was brand new, and so much of what they experienced on a daily basis must have been petrifying! Imagine the first deafening crack from a bolt of lightning striking close enough to cause their hairs to stand on end and eviscerate a nearby tree. Although they obviously hunted, they were by no means the top of the food chain. They were probably more likely to be killed and eaten by a creature than to kill and eat it. They had rocks and pointy sticks and eventually fire to fend off would be predators. Would you go up to Alaska and hunt bear with nothing more than a pointy stick, a rock, and maybe a makeshift torch? I strongly doubt it. Over time they formed tribes and learned their own ways of defending themselves and communicating. Inevitably, they would cross paths with other tribes who did not communicate in the same way as them, again, another terrifying experience.

What did all this fear do? They feared the animals that were predators and threats to their way of life, this caused them to hunt and kill these creatures, to find ways to keep them at bay. When they came across other tribes they could not communicate with what did they do? They fought and killed them if they were perceived as a threat. They feared thunder and lightning, but couldn't defeat it, so what did they do? They withdrew from it, took shelter. I could go on and on about the things that scared them and they in turn tried to kill or withdraw from, however, I think that I have made my point fairly clear. Since the dawn of mankind, our fear of the outside world and one and other has dictated the majority of our actions in dealing with these fears. Fear bred violence, killing, hatred and anger right into the very fabric of our souls. For the naysayers, I understand that to some extent fear kept us alive. However, it must be said that fear and danger are two completely different matters, debatable another time perhaps.

It goes without saying that we are quite obviously no longer in the Paleolithic era. However, it once again is my opinion that fear is still a predominate decision making factor in each and every one of our lives. Modern times dictate that we no longer need to live in constant fear of animals or other marvels of mother nature. We have developed enough as a species to mitigate the dangerous risks associated with these things. Instead, we now let fear have a much more crippling effect on our day to day lives. As I mentioned, fear has been ingrained into the very fabric of our souls. Much like any addiction we feel the need to latch onto it. It's always been there, since the dawn of mankind, without giving it a second thought this seems to create in each of us a desire to feed it. It will never occur to most of us to stop doing so, to let it go.

Just because modern fear has changed and doesn't necessarily pose a physical threat to our safety doesn't make it any less real. The most common modern fears that come to my mind are fear of failure and judgment. Our fear of failure and judgment is so paralyzing it tends to dictate that we perpetuate the same amount of minimal effort we're accustomed to exerting in order to keep our personal, social, and religious perceptions of failure at an arms length. Too often we sacrifice our happiness, and that of others to maintain the comfort zone that is not failure, but is not true happiness or success either. It is these very fears that tend to prevent us from attempting to change things in an effort to improve our own lives. We are so scared of failing and being judged as a failure that rarely do we step outside our comfort zones to take charge of our own lives and emotions. Obviously something's working, we don't live in pure terror each day, so why change things? The thing is, not living in absolute terror and being truly happy are drastically different things. I challenge you, if you are reading this, to step outside your comfort zone and let go of one thing you are afraid of. Be it forgiving yourself for something that you are ashamed of and thusly scared of being judged for, telling someone the honest to God's truth about the way you feel, or anything that you are scared of in any way shape or form. It's actually quite freeing, go on and try it. What are you so afraid of?

Much Love,

Phil