Musings of a Senior Scribe
Nothing New Under The Sun
By Mona Lease 

Hi, all!!! In 1917, a soldier was drafted into our US Army. He wrote letters to his family from "across the big pond." In this case, it was Germany..WW1. In one of his letters to a brother, he writes that he is in the infirmary - a hospital. He tells of 600 guys being brought in minus arms or legs or "just insane." The "insane" part intrigues me. I'll explain. 

From WW1, the "insane" went through some name changes - to our modern day "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Syndrome." However, the symptoms remain the same. And, the cause does, too. 

Here in Darke County, we have a fellow citizen who was academically gifted - or very intelligent. He enlisted in our Marine Corps - as a Lieutenant...responsible for others and their safety. He was 19. That was in 2001. As I pen this, he is rebuilding his life. He is on a "med set" - a combination of prescribed drugs to keep down the hallucinations,anxiety, and to sleep. He is attending college to become a teacher. I do not know the subject. 

The author of the letters wrote in one of his "back home letters", that he wanted the family to save them. They did. The letters are roughly 96 years old and still legible. As some sort of an odd link past to present - he spelled out his "GI life" - good (real food at a real table when they were in a friendly town) and bad (scrambling for your gas mask when you heard or saw a bomb drop). 

I've never been a fan of war or the "valid reasons" behind it. Like some Bugs Bunny cartoon, someone invades a place and take the "spoils." While running out of the place and looking behind them to make sure the enemy was not too close - someone is waiting around a corner ahead of them and takes "the spoils"...ever notice that? 

"Insane" - "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" - "Flashbacks" - whatever you call it - it's the same. It's when a part of you and/or your mind, can no longer justify what you are doing or did - or did not do - whether you could have controlled the given situation or not. 

In the soldier's letters he wrote that he did not think there was much hope for him. He made it home to a young woman with whom he was "keeping company" - that is dating. They married and had three children. 

This proves that there is nothing new under the sun - not love, war, marriage, power, children, etc. So, I ask myself - "Is the "answer", for which we spend multiplied billions of dollars seeking, behind us?" Is the search for peace, health, longevity, and wealth in the soldier's letters? - or that he wrote them at all? - or that he asked that they be saved? - or that the family saved them? Thank you, Daniel, for writing the letters and giving us a glimpse of real honor and courage. 

Remember the kiddies and our service people. Be good to the furry and feathered ones out there. Be safe and healthy. See ya next time. Ever Toodles!