Please Tell The GOP, No Man Is An Island.

AP IMPACT: Suicides are surging among US troops

By ROBERT BURNS | Associated Press 

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-suicides-surging-among-us-troops-204148055.html

EXCERPT: Kim Ruocco, widow of Marine Maj. John Ruocco, a helicopter pilot who hanged himself in 2005 between Iraq deployments, said he was unable to bring himself to go for help.

"He was so afraid of how people would view him once he went for help," she said in an interview at her home in suburban Boston. "He thought that people would think he was weak, that people would think he was just trying to get out of redeploying or trying to get out of service, or that he just couldn't hack it - when, in reality, he was sick. He had suffered injury in combat and he had also suffered from depression and let it go untreated for years. And because of that, he's dead today."

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Suicides are surging among America's troops, averaging nearly one a day this year — the fastest pace in the nation's decade of war.

The 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the year far outdistance the U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan — about 50 percent more — according to Pentagon statistics obtained by The Associated Press.

The numbers reflect a military burdened with wartime demands from Iraq and Afghanistan that have taken a greater toll than foreseen a decade ago. The military also is struggling with increased sexual assaults, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other misbehavior.

Because suicides had leveled off in 2010 and 2011, this year's upswing has caught some officials by surprise.

The reasons for the increase are not fully understood. Among explanations, studies have pointed to combat exposure, post-traumatic stress, misuse of prescription medications and personal financial problems. Army data suggest soldiers with multiple combat tours are at greater risk of committing suicide, although a substantial proportion of Army suicides are committed by soldiers who never deployed. MORE HERE http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-suicides-surging-among-us-troops-204148055.html

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Media should be talking about this overwhelming cataclysm but they are not. It seems it is one of those quandaries that those in power positions would rather sweep under the carpet. I blame many of our societal ills on the GOP conservative frame of mind and again I place responsibility for these military suicides smack dab on the GOP ideology of… women are weak, gays are an abomination, government is not and should not be responsible for its citizenry, human beings ARE ISLANDS, therefore each individual has no one to blame but themselves for humankind breakdowns; And the GOP attitude on mental illness, especially within the military is, ITS ALWAYS FEIGNED AND ALWAYS A COVER FOR COWARDLINESS. They disperse this indifferent, calloused and unrealistic credo, as if it were something to be proud of. It’s a false pride because all of us together are only as strong as our weakest link. John Donne, wrote a poignant poem many years ago that 'rings' true today.

 No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. John Donne( born between 24 January and 19 June 1572 – died 31 March 1631)

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The best explained critique for this passionate poem came from this site: http://isu.indstate.edu/ilnprof/ENG451/ISLAND

John Donne

Meditation XVII: No man is an island...

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

This famous meditation of Donne's puts forth two essential ideas which are representative of the Renaissance era in which it was written:    No man is an island, entire of itself...The idea that people are not isolated from one another, but that mankind is interconnected; and…   Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee The vivid awareness of mortality that seems a natural outgrowth of a time when death was the constant companion of life.

Donne brings these two themes together to affirm that any one man's death diminishes all of mankind, since all mankind is connected; yet that death itself is not so much to be feared as it at first seems. Join us in exploring these two main themes, which we have associated with the two controlling images of the meditation...the island and the bell.

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If I had only a smidgeon of universal power, I would put forth a proclamation that these words of wisdom shall become required reading and study for all who believe we are NOT, every last one of us, in the SAME boat; And Common Sense would tell you quite blatantly… it’s not UNSINKABLE. thinkingblue

PS: Now as a Case in Point of the GOP's absurd creed: GOP To Women: Equal Pay, No Way!

Many more examples of GOP callousness at thinkingblue.blogspot.com