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An excellent online @Caabu briefing coming up with @samdagher: Is there a common thread to mass protests in the Middle East and the United States?

Join us on 25 June at 2pm UK time (BST) https://t.co/R9DjgqnL7u pic.twitter.com/SHCKSYbtX0

— Joseph Willits (@josephwillits) June 8, 2020

Easter Message of Jesuit General Superior

Father Arturo Sosa encouraged everyone with his Easter message. “The crisis of COVID-19…draws our gaze to what oppresses us.” Father Sosa noted that “those who have died because of COVID…are urging us to take the necessary steps to transform our lives, to renew the society that we have built on such shaky foundations, and to rescue the environment that we have treated so badly.” [Full text]

Storytelling Made Easier

The name Patton ordinarily brings to mind the thick of battles not to mention the larger-than-life figure history remembers. Today the name is involved with battles after war that haunt too many—those of post-traumatic stress syndrome [PTSD]. The clinical diagnosis is not limited to veterans, yet the number of those who suffer it is high. Enter Benjamin Patton, a grandson of General George Patton. Benjamin launched film-making workshops that allow members of the military to tell their stories. CSM contributor Bobbi Dumas reported, “Participants report a significant drop in PTSD symptoms after completing the workshop,” I Was There.

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Wiki-image by KMJ at the German language Wikipedia of Apple iSight Camera CC BY-SA 3.0

“Modern Warfare Destroys Your Brain”

The effects of explosive blasts has long been considered more psychological than physical. Keen minds have challenged that. Many scoffed at their insights even as late as the last decade of last century. Now a growing number of health professionals take seriously the physical effects—because of this evidence. 

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Wiki-image of Exploding ordnance PD-USGov

In Line [Jaw-dropping]

Midweek The Guardian posted a photo to depict the “scale of suffering at a Syrian refugee camp.” The devastation surrounding those waiting causes hungers of other kinds. The picture with headline and detailed caption.

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Wiki-mage by fir0002 of bread and rolls CC BY-NC 3.0

Ten Years Later

Today is the 10^th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Brad Knickerbocker of the CSM concludes in an article that the question, “‘Was it worth it?’ is a question impossible to answer.”

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Wiki-image of U.S. tanks in Baghdad is in the public domain. 

Listening Begins Respect

Two quotes:

“In fact, far more veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have been lost since coming home than have died in combat. Their suicides are a silent carnage: 18 every day; 6,500 a year.”

“‘Churches need to be more proactive about educating themselves about the issues vets face when they come home,’ Hansman says. ‘No one expects pastors to cure post-traumatic stress. But they’re gatekeepers, pointing people in the right direction.’”

They are from a U.S. Catholic article worth attention. It helps to activate respect for U.S. Veterans.

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Wiki-image by Jim.henderson of Women Veterans Monument was entered into the public domain.