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Aug
25
BLANKETS OF HOPE
Filed Under American Patriotism, Quilts of Valor | 1 Comment
“QUILTS OF VALOR PROJECT”
During the Purple Heart National Convention we passed a table of women busily sewing and constructing several incredibly beautiful red, white, and blue patriotic quilts. Turns out, these ladies have made and sent to military hospitals throughout the United States and overseas over 415 quilts. The national Quilts of Valor Organization has provided over 17,000 quilts. Frankly, I was stunned by this number given the time, money, and effort that goes into making a hand sewn quilt. Wow!
For that reason, I thought our readers might find it interesting to know some of the facts regarding such a worthy organization. (PS – they greatly need and accept donations to help defray the personal cost and postage for each quilt and quilter). The following information is taken from a brochure given to me by Donna Roche, the Arkansas QOV Coordinator (e-mail diva@mc2k.com)
The Quilts of Valor is our “Purple Heart Award” for service, sacrifice and valor of combat wounded soldiers. It is our way of saying “Thank You for your service, you have not been forgotten.” Numerous people are involved in making the quilts, from contributing quilt blocks, finishing the tops, and then quilting them. Each quilt receives a “Quilt of Valor” label thanking the injured warrior for their dedication and sacrifice. The label contains the name of the maker and the quilter. Sometimes the soldier will send a letter of thanks like the one below:
“My QOV not only keeps me warm when I am cold, it keeps my heart warm too. I’m twenty-four, a husband and father. This may seem childish, but when I get scared with memories of war, I curl up in the quilts and everything goes away. It makes me and the hundreds of wounded I’ve seen feel better knowing there are people in the States that care about us and what we do.”
The Cost of each quilt:
Quilt top $55
Batting $15
Quilt Backing $40
Binding & Notions $10
Pillowcase $ 5
Shipping w/Insurance $10
Total for making a QOV $135
The following poem is dedicated to these amazing women and their loving selfless efforts.
BLANKET OF HOPE
Blanket of Hope
Covers my wounds,
Keeping me safe
In this far from home room.
Blanket of Hope
Surrounding my heart,
Keeping me sane
When I’m falling apart.
Blanket of Hope
Sewn by love’s hands,
With patience and kindness
Compassion commands.
Blanket of Hope
As tears fill my eyes
Brings me closer to home
When morning arrives.
Blanket of Hope
With deep gratitude
My words can’t express
A way to thank you.
Janet J. Seahorn, Ph.D
August, 2009
In honor of the Quilts of Valor Organization
Donations are greatly needed and accepted to help continue this amazing, healing mission.
or Donna Roche, diva@mc2k.com
Aug
18
THE WISDOM OF WARRIORS PAST
Filed Under American Patriotism, Purple Heart | 1 Comment
by Tony Seahorn
Even in the most devastating and pain-filled moments, we have an opportunity to learn something about ourselves, our world, and the human spirit.
Attending the Purple Heart National Convention in Rogers, Arkansas provided an enormous volume of proof supporting this statement. The group was a moving, living sea of purple where great amounts of blood was given in service to our country. Veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and a few from the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan attended.
It is the Vietnam veteran, however, who have provided evidence of how to do things differently when welcoming a warrior home from combat. These vets had no “welcome home”. Their experience of returning from combat was often met with verbal and sometimes physical abuse. Crowds of protesters were waiting to hurl insults and thoughtlessly displayed signs/banners with obscene language and incredibly cruel remarks and pictures.
What Vietnam vets taught Americans through their touching stories were how badly they were injured – not just by the enemy in a foreign land, but by their own country men. The wound to the soldier was deeper, more personal. It bled into the heart and soul of the veteran and couldn’t heal. Healing requires exposure to the light, the outside air. The Vietnam vets were forced to suppress not only their sacrifice, but their woundedness.
With our present battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, veterans have rallied for a new mission, a promise that never again would our military personnel return home unwelcome. Today there are a multitude of individuals and organizations who support, care and offer hope to serving military members as well as their families. At the Purple Heart Convention we met a few. The “Soldier’s Angels” were there to ensure every military person serving in a combat zone receives care packages, cards, and letters from their fellow Americans. “Quilting for Valor” is another group who painstakingly create beautiful hand-crafted quilts to send to hospitals both in-country and overseas. These quilts cover and comfort the wounded warrior during his/her hospitalization.
And there were others with their own caring mission.
Vietnam veterans taught Americans how words can wound deeper than guns. How lack of support impairs the ability to move forward. And most of all, how to forgive – their country’s leaders, their country men/women, and sometimes even their own families – because they understand that forgiveness heals.
The significant lesson these past warriors, in their aging wisdom learned, then modeled, was the power of absolution, which granted freedom from their emotional woundedness. Then, through such forgiveness, they have and continue to work tirelessly with the American people and the military to meet the needs of the new combat wounded.
America’s new Purple Hearts hopefully feel only the love, support, and generosity of an America who will never again allow our sons and daughters to return home from combat unwelcome.
Aug
12
Wilderness and Healing PTSD
Filed Under Treating PTSD | 3 Comments
They come at the most unexpected times; the demons, depression, sadness, anxiety… It is the uncertainty of the unwanted feelings, the never knowing for sure when or where they might appear that makes Post-traumatic Stress such a challenge to manage.
Modern civilization, with all of its new technologies, now has more clever and massive means to torture and kill. And our conscious and unconscious psyche knows and understands this fact. So why in the heck would someone with PTSD feel secure and at ease in a large city, a crowded mall, or a traffic-filled highway?
Many times it is these modern places that exacerbate PTSD symptoms. Finding a place of safety to escape and heal may be to retreat to the wilderness. A place where Mother Nature opens her soft arms to surround us with peace, soothe our torn nerves, and comfort us with gurgling mountain streams, meadows splashed with abundant colors, greens so bright that they almost appear painted. Soft breezes and tiny birds sing a lullaby so sweet that we almost weep with gratitude. Compassionate, wilderness spirits seem to enfold our entire bodies and minds with their loving presence.
This summer we have been fortunate to spend a great deal of time in the mountains: camping, fishing, hiking, floating rivers. Each experience reinforced what we have always known – wilderness places heal.
There is a healing that takes place in the wilderness. Where hatred, greed, and meaningless violence cease to exist. When we are surrounded by wilderness our senses open up to drink in the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures that quiet our minds, hearts, and tattered spirits.
Nature allows us to relax, to rejuvenate. It is why we are blessed to visit each special, wild place. We are privileged to experience natural environments and acknowledge the value of these common places becoming our sacred, healing grounds.
Please send us stories of your wilderness, healing places. We would enjoy hearing from you.
Aug
5
PTSD + JOY = PEACE… May be
Filed Under Treating PTSD | Comments Off on PTSD + JOY = PEACE… May be
Some of you may have read the title to this blog and thought, “Oh right. You must be kidding!” Actually, I’m pretty serious about the components of the title: PTSD + Joy = Peace… May be.
Putting these three words together – PTSD, Joy, and Peace – may be the only real solution to living life after trauma. It is what all of the therapists and therapies strive to achieve. Yet, I’m not sure that we think of them optimistically in the same sentence. However, the three are intricately linked by both the challenging and hallowed events of the trauma.
Despite the incredible agony and horror of the trauma, there is something that is definitely available to us if we quiet our minds and bodies enough to recognize some of the gifts the event may have brought us. Yep, I did say gifts. Gifts such as acknowledging the immense courage survival required. Gifts such as being deeply aware of the importance of each new day, each new experience, and life in its entirety. Gifts, that, in spite of the fear of recurring nightmares and panic attacks, you understand something about life and living that many do not.
You understand that it can be more fragile than you believed before the ordeal. You appreciate the fact that somehow, someway you survived. You recognize, after enduring profound sorrow, perhaps you made it through the fire because your mission on this earth was not done, and, you, in someway, were meant to carry on. It is not yours to question or know immediately what that mission is or may become. Only living each day fully can answer the question at the very end of our time.
So what does this have to do with Joy? In our society many think of joy and happiness as the same emotion. However, they are really quite different. Happiness may entail some outside, material component to subsist. Joy, on the other hand, can exist even during our darkest moments. This is possible because joy is connected to gratitude. Gratitude for what went before the trauma, what may come through it, and what can be after. You see, we now know what we know about the preciousness of life. We know the importance of the love of family and friends. The value of new life. The reminder of a rainbow after a storm.
As the joy/gratitude list grows, something amazing takes place in our hearts, minds, and bodies. We become peaceful. Maybe not all the time, or even, at first, much of the time, but some of the time. And that, my friend, is better than nothing. For if I can touch that peaceful place even once, I know it can be done. That gives me hope. Hope that I can touch it again, and again, and again.
Yes, PTSD + Joy = Peace… May be.