Over the past year, I haven't been able to shake the importance of that word "community" in thinking about veterans, whether it's the bond they have with one another or what sort of impact they can have on society at large.
"Veterans can be a powerful force for healing in the world," writes decorated Army Vietnam veteran Claude Anshin Thomas in his autobiography, At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace, quoting Zen Buddhist leader Thich Nhat Hanh.
Healing happens in community, perhaps, because so does service.
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. is an internationally recognized trauma healing advocate who recently published The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. He writes that "our culture teaches us to focus on personal uniqueness, but at a deeper level we barely exist as individual organisms. Our brains are built to help us function as members of the tribe. We are part of that tribe even when we are by ourselves... Most of our energy is devoted to connecting with others."
[For more of this story, written by Lily Casura, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...-heal_b_7262082.html]
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