The Final Chapter?

I'm really undecided about this blog.  The KD was the blog I started as a way to find my way in this military landscape three years ago. I took my existing writing and editing skills --used for literary fiction, book reviews, and writing posts and applied them here. The result was a marvelous journey where I met a lot of friends, got my feet wet, and while coming to grips about this new life.

I feel I've posted some fine writing on this blog. But I also feel --like a good book, some blogs must come to an end. It might be time for this one to have its final chapter. What I've learned about myself is the best favor I can do the military community is to be myself.  Because anything else would be a compromise, too boring, and way too contrived.  And I'm at an age, where really --I don't have the time for a charade.

The sequel to this blog (of course) is one that I have been spending more time on: WarRetreat. It's oriented to addressing the needs of our service members and their families in the aftermath of war through stress reduction. Jillian and I have been writing it in consultation with the wonderful Dave Emerson, and also with input from Paul Zipes. The feedback is positive: we've become a bridge from the military side into the yoga community. We have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of a new generation of service members coming home in small communities across the U.S.

I've always felt the future well being of veterans should not be the sole responsibility of the V.A. or the military itself. I've also felt that a lot of people get caught up in philosophical discussions about war, and prefer to stay in that zone because helping veterans is too darn hard.

But for all the talk, and even though we all give much needed money to national organizations, the question that packs the most punch is whether or not our efforts are making a difference for the veterans in our community. PTSD is a community concern: if someone can't sleep, if they can't hold down a job, if they can't get along with others, and if they cease to believe in themselves, then the direct impact is on the people they love, and those with whom they work.

By sharing empirical data gleaned from studies about trauma and stress, WarRetreat can serve as a useful tool to not only help those suffering, but those who want to help, find pathways to work together.  While Kitchen Dispatch will always be my home, WarRetreat is the need that beckons me more everyday. I think I can bring the same aesthetic sensibilities that I've used on the KD, and before that Easy-Writer to War Retreat. But the truth is --I can't do them both at a level that would make me pleased. Three years --have I run out of steam? Not quite. But I sense the rails are shifting to a different plain.