Some Thoughts on Veteran's Day

An excerpt from Veteran and Zen teacher Clause Anshin Thomas's At Hell's Gate


At Hells GateWhen listening to a combat veteran speak about the war, pay attention to how you feel and to your reactions to those feelings. Do you want to get away from this person? Do you want to fix him? Are you trying to rescue her? Sometimes when we’re in the presence of emotional pain, without realizing it, we get caught up in attempting to do something, anything, to get rid of this pain as quickly as possible. But this is not the road to healing and peace.

If you find yourself thinking about how to make this difficulty go away, in just this moment it becomes very important to stop. Acknowledge your own discomfort, and then go back to listening. Sometimes the best thing we can offer someone is our own willingness just to be there, allowing whatever feelings are present to be present, without judgment. This is how we can begin to create a healing environment for veterans and for ourselves.

We must always remember that we cannot cure, fix, or rescue other people—we cannot take away their suffering (nor can we take away our own). However, in learning to open up to that which is unpleasant, dark, painful, confusing, or numbing, we can begin to learn how to be of support to one another.

If people want to help returning soldiers, I often invite them to volunteer at veterans hospitals, veterans clinics, or veteran outreach centers. Or I encourage them to look more deeply at the role of violence and war in their own lives. I also reiterate what has become a very important insight for me during this time: If we want the world to be different, we have to live differently. We cannot think ourselves into a new way of living; we have to live ourselves into a new way of thinking.

At Hell's Gate

$19.95 - Paperback

By: Claude Anshin Thomas

Author with Thich Nhat Hanh
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