It’s such a curious thing to do. Or not do, really. A soldier is dead. Whether they died by a roadside bomb or they died due to the mental toll that the war took on them, I don’t see why it matters. They’re coming back to the States in the same way. Their families will have to bury them and mourn them. Their pain isn’t any less or more than the next family.
This attitude towards suicide victims dates back to a time when if your relative died by suicide, they weren’t allowed to be buried in the same cemetery as the other folk who died properly. This type of mentality is stupid. Simple as that. It’s rooted in ignorance and fear. With all the advances in our society, we still remain in the dark ages when it comes to matters of mental health.
For whatever reason, there are still people on this planet that think mental health is nonsense. Therapy is a joke and a tool only used by the weak and pathetic. Depression is a made-up thing. People who kill themselves are crazy and better off dead. Should I keep going? I’ve heard countless people say these things to me. More often than not, they open up a Pandora’s Box with me when they spout their idiocy. I won’t sit quietly and allow misinformation and cruelty to be spread in my presence.
But there are plenty of people who can’t fight back. Chancellor Keesling, who committed suicide in Iraq at the age of 25, got to sit with his fellow soldiers and listen while they made fun of their dead comrades, the ones that committed suicide. All the while, Keesling was clearly suffering from severe depression, on top of a failed marriage, and no one noticed. Can we blame Keesling for not reaching out for help? When the attitudes of the military, time and again, show that if you suffer from a mental illness, you’re weak? Bullet wounds, they’ll treat. Anything with the mind, they can’t handle. Apparently, neither can the White House.
Suicides in the military continue to rise. It frustrates me beyond belief that these soldiers are treated like damaged goods, less worthy of dignity and compassion than their fellow fallen soldiers. Their families are treated differently. That’s shocking and backwards and sends such a powerful message to the whole country. If you suffer from a mental illness, and you die by it, you’re not even worth a stamp.
To see VM’s report on this White House policy and the rising rate of suicide in the military, see Soldier Suicides on the Rise.
Thoughts, questions, comments, concerns about the issues raised in this op-ed? Email us at comments@vigilantmonkey.com.
Olga Navia is a teacher, a certified yoga instructor, a mental health advocate, and a volunteer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. To learn more about the AFSP and its many initiatives, please visit www.afsp.org.