My father was a WWII veteran who died by suicide when I was 16 in 1966. The event bifurcated my life into a sharp before and after, which made me a different person. Some of it was not so good. I suffered major depression and bouts of explosive anger. But, I grew up and became a special ed teacher, that gave me students with a variety of issues, mainly brought on by trauma. I've come to believe that my Baby Boom generation was raised by a generation of Holocaust survivors who passed on their collective trauma to us. I believe this expresses itself in the way we have sanctified violence and warfare. My father was a career military officer who put missiles in silos but believed in unilateral disarmament. He encourage me to always walk away from conflict. I think his inability to make his experience sacred contributed to his death.
I'm glad this is all coming out. As a practicing Buddhist, I believe the first noble truth that life is suffering could well be re-termed, life is trauma.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
My father was a WWII veteran who died by suicide when I was 16 in 1966. The event bifurcated my life into a sharp before and after, which made me a different person. Some of it was not so good. I suffered major depression and bouts of explosive anger. But, I grew up and became a special ed teacher, that gave me students with a variety of issues, mainly brought on by trauma. I've come to believe that my Baby Boom generation was raised by a generation of Holocaust survivors who passed on their collective trauma to us. I believe this expresses itself in the way we have sanctified violence and warfare. My father was a career military officer who put missiles in silos but believed in unilateral disarmament. He encourage me to always walk away from conflict. I think his inability to make his experience sacred contributed to his death.
I'm glad this is all coming out. As a practicing Buddhist, I believe the first noble truth that life is suffering could well be re-termed, life is trauma.