"Thank you" is our message here at "Ghosts of 1914," on this Veteran's Day, 2013.
Thank you to veterans and to their families. Thanks also to those who help in various ways to acknowledge, support, rehabilitate, and connect to service members past and present.
I asked, in my last post, where the war is. In truth, it (whether you mean a particular past war or just the concept or phenomenon of war) is always with us--it is here. The needs, fears, and hopes of service people a century ago were not so different from those of their contemporaries today. In this way, there is always a connection to the ghosts of 1914. And this connection is a call to thought and action, not just on this day, but all year round.
If you are considering supporting veterans with a donation of time or funds this year, I salute you. If you would like to contribute and are looking for ideas, I can suggest (without formal affiliation to any of the following):
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a wonderful organization whose efforts to support soldiers recovering from serious physical and mental injuries are supported by 100% of donations given. Here is their website:
They have a new initiative this year, called "Make it Visible":
This is a project to make the less outwardly apparent traumas of war visible and to focus on the rehabilitation of veterans and service people suffering from traumatic brain injury and/or post-traumatic stress.
As someone whose research has pondered how or where a war manifests in a population, how a society strives alternately to make visible and invisible the wounds of war, I find "Make it Visible" to be a particularly compelling project.
I will close here, with a repeated "Thanks" to service people and to their loved ones. And to the rest of us, remember, remember, the 11th of November...
Fiona
Links to past 11th November and Remembrance themed posts:
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© Fiona Robinson