Half Sky Writing

  • ABOUT
    • Blog
  • OUR WORK
    • Case Studies
  • Back to Half Sky Journeys
  • ABOUT
    • Blog
  • OUR WORK
    • Case Studies
  • Back to Half Sky Journeys

November Gratitude Diaries Post #11: Veterans

11/11/2018

0 Comments

 

Visible, and Invisible

It’s Veteran’s day, and today I feel compassion and gratitude for soldiers who served my country. I also can’t wait for tomorrow’s parade (which happens to march right past my neighborhood). The kids twirling batons and the marching bands playing “Eye of the Tiger” always get me teary-eyed. 

And while I am grateful to individual veterans, when it comes to my feelings about the military—it’s complicated. I am angry and sad about our country’s military past and present.  I am angry that the effects of PTSD and inadequate healthcare cause a lifetime ripple of casualties (suicides, broken lives, and the latest mass shooting) for veterans whose service has supposedly ended. I’m angry about the violence towards women, people of color, and LGBTQ people that continues to haunt our military.  I am horrified that we continue to sell to Saudi Arabia the weapons that are raining down on innocent humans in Yemen, for starters.

But I am grateful that I live in a country where I’m still able to freely express this ambiguity and where in the midst of extreme partisan polarity, we are maybe also growing to accept and express nuance and conflicting feelings within ourselves. Maybe?

​I recommend this article about women in the military, and the internal conflict that many experience with trying to fit in and to move past at the same time.
​
Women are the Most Visible Servicemembers, and the Most Invisible Veterans https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/women-are-the-most-visible-soldiers-and-the-most-invisible-veterans
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Ila Asplund

    Traveler. Baker. Beauty Seeker. Hiker. Paper Ephemera Collector. Sharpie Lover. Etch-A-Sketch Artist. Mondegreen (Misheard Lyric) Connoisseur. Public Space Ninja. Nickname Giver.

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Aspic
    Beats
    Bicycle
    Dad
    Darkness
    Funky
    Gratitude
    Indonesia
    Mom
    Sadhana
    Toad
    Vote
    Water
    Words

    Archives

    October 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018

    RSS Feed

Half Sky Writing is a service of  Half Sky Journeys.

Our vision is to increase the impact of organizations who care about gender equity. We do this through creating engagement experiences, storytelling, and thoughtful communications strategies for values-driven businesses. Let us help you shine.
"By creating our Vision Book, you helped us commit to our brand. It made our other marketing decisions much easier."  - CEO, NWAlpine
"Thanks to you, I now know the power of good branding!"
 - CEO, Molly Muriel


Copyright © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Website by Ila Asplund