Pours les Vautours, by Paul Signac, 1909
We have the war in Gaza to remind us how suddenly horror can descend on a region, how a provocation can unleash utter disaster, and how the contending pathologies of a few men can destroy lives by the scores of thousands.
-Marilynne Robinson, "Agreeing to Our Harm," New York Review of Books, 7/18/24
I was perusing a book of paintings and drawings by the neo-Impressionist painter, Paul Signac, to distract myself from The Great Debate, when I came across the drawing I have used to illustrate this blog post. The wars in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine grind on, others flare constantly. Signac's minimalist rendering of war zone desolation stirred me into thinking that it might be time for me to attempt a sequel to Another Day In Paradise, my book about—and with—international humanitarian relief workers. My thoughts at the moment coalesce around domestic first responders. To that end, I profiled a firefighter this week for the local paper.
Here's the link. Click off on the X to defeat the firewall.
https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2024/06/24/the-heart-of-a-first-responder/
I have also been talking to former soldiers and relief workers again about their experience of war, and their recovery from war. I have an untested theory that one of the many causes of PTSD is our fundamental abhorrence of harm as codified in the commandment: "Thou Shalt Not Kill." As soldiers are taught to kill, and expected to be able to kill, I believe that the brain resists, and that the resistance settles in the soldier's psyche as PTSD. Some carry the wound of war to their grave.
Something similar may happen to humanitarian workers. They are exposed to killing machines and dead bodies as witnesses and healers, which is exposure enough. They may be unable to re-enter "normal" life, or self-medicate, or collapse. Or, they may have the tools and resources to keep going until they retire; it's variable.
When war, school shootings, insurrections, and corruption overshadow our lives, and an upcoming election, we must re-engage, re-imagine, and strengthen our fundamental human and humane values, be they religious, or secular.
This post is dedicated to all the civilians in war zones who have been killed, or are struggling to survive.