This Anzac Day it is worthwhile remembering not those who died in distant wars a century ago but rather those who made it back alive and physically intact, only to live out the burden of their terrible experience on the ones they wanted to hurt least.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As thousands of veterans, emergency service workers, their families and friends who marched on the weekend to raise awareness of PTSD know, sometimes it is the invisible scars that are the most devastating.
We also know this is not some nostalgic illusion we can dress in the revisionism of history and sententious platitudes. These aren’t ancient wars too easy to sentimentalise with no living voices left to reiterate the lingering pain and despair. This is a suffering that is with us right now and we know all too tragically that it is costing lives in our community.
So the campaign to Walk off the War Within has taken the first courageous and definitive steps toward recognising the breadth of the problem of those who suffer from PTSD. But those first steps are the crucial ones toward recovery however long and arduous the journey.
Most of all it is a campaign about solidarity, to tell sufferers that they are not alone. Ballarat showed once again on the weekend how generous and bold is its community spirit in recognising that together the impossible and ugly can be faced.
And even if there are fewer veterans of recent military operations, the shadow of PTSD extends a lot further than the obvious. If one in 10 emergency service workers are affected by the condition then resources are key to creating a sustainable force and the services vital to a functioning society. Perhaps most of all the culture must change.
Historically it was written into our culture that mental consequences were seen as some kind of weakness. The Anzac myth conveniently glossed over the terrible and lasting legacy of mental damage done by wars and generations of survivors. It was a culture of being told to “man-up” where tell–tale signs of impact were dismissed and the concealed trauma festered and led to one of war’s most destructive legacies; countless more suicides and lives ruined.
Saturday’s walk shows bold steps are being taken to tackle this problem openly as a community and curtail the terrible costs. But the complexity and demands of the mental health system demand much more, particularly when it is already at crisis point.
Lifeline Australia - 13 11 14
