So first I would like to apologize to everyone for my absence. I have been very busy designing and creating, so the blog slipped away from me, BUT I am back, so how about we just jump right into things.
While at a VA appointment this morning, sitting in the lobby waiting, I noticed a disgruntled Veteran. Not sure what he was angry about, don’t know if he was just having a bad day, or it was a culmination of bad experiences he has had at the VA. He calmed down and seemed a little better overall before he left. But between then and now my mind has been in constant thought. Most people seemed upset and frustrated that he was going off like he was, so allow me to share some thoughts I’ve had.
First, you don’t know what type of experience the Veteran has had with the VA. Just because you had a pleasurable experience does NOT mean it is that way with everyone, I can personally speak on that after having a doctor step in my face and start screaming at me. The VA is a POLITICAL machine, and unfortunately IN GENERAL they do NOT really care about us, and they show that time and time again. There are some good people that work at the VA, they TRULY care about us and appreciate us, but the people in charge of decision making could care less, they are there for a paycheck and do not care about us or our lives. This is blatantly shown in every piece of information I have found on Veteran Suicide stats that the VA has published, because they play the blame game with things like “those who receive care through the VA system are less likely to commit suicide than those who receive care outside of the VA system.” Basically they are trying to make themselves look good, like they aren’t part of the problem, and make everyone and everything else look bad. What they need to realize is pointing fingers, especially about this topic, does absolutely NOTHING to help to solve the problem, only ostracizes people and makes things worse. The VA needs an overhaul from the top down, needs to be held accountable for the crap they do or don’t do, and needs to STOP pointing fingers, trying to make themselves look good, AND FOCUS ON THE ISSUE AT HAND AND HOW TO HELP SOLVE THIS ENDEMIC. DO BETTER VA, and don’t worry, I will definitely be designing a shirt very soon with that thought in mind, been thinking about that for awhile now actually.
Second, you don’t know what type of things the Veteran is going through in their personal life. They could have had a traumatic event, something bad happen in their personal life, or could just be having a bad day. WE ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE BAD DAYS TOO. The mind is a very very dark place, and when you stay in that darkness too long, it has lasting effects on you in general. I will discuss this particular subject in more depth tomorrow, gonna be a good one.
All I am asking, as Veterans, we need to be more aware of our fellow Veterans, be a little more sympathetic to them, their feelings, and what they might be going through. Show some empathy, be a little more understanding, and show some freaking compassion. The VA sucks enough as it is, we need to give them our shoulder instead of being shitty to them like the VA is with us in general.
With that, I will end todays blog, I very much look forward to talking with you again tomorrow. As always, I love every one of y’all, especially my fellow Vets, if ANY of my fellow Vets need someone to talk to, please reach out to me, I am ALWAYS here for you.
IF YOU ARE A VETERAN WHO NEEDS HELP, YOU ARE NOT ALONE – YOU ARE LOVED – YOU ARE NEEDED!
CALL – 988 – OPTION 1
TEXT – 838255
CALL – 800-799-4889
CALL – 844-889-5610
GO TO – WWW.VETERANSCRISISLINE.NET
GO TO – WWW.STOPSOLDIERSUICIDE.ORG/GET-HELP
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