Soldiers Mental Trauma

Words: 544
Pages: 3

Mental and emotional trauma, as we all know, is commonly seen in soldiers of a war. Our soldiers see things in war that, supposedly, nobody else has ever seen or ever experienced. This statement is simply untrue. Of course our soldiers experience very traumatic things and live through petrifying events during the wars, but no one discusses how the war affects the mental health of the citizens of these war zones. Citizens see exceedingly similar things because they are also living it, just without the protection of armed guns. War does not only impact the lives of the soldiers, but citizens also experience these same kinds of trauma from the war, maybe not in the same ways or for the exact same reasons, but it still affects them greatly. In …show more content…
In the novel, character Kenan talks of the time where the National Library, a particularly iconic structure in his eyes, was burned to the ground by the snipers. What is most significant in his telling of this tragedy is not the library, but a specific fireman at scene. Kenan shares his memory of witnessing the beloved structure go down, but what he remembers most is this particular fireman, who, as bullets were flying past him and his men, just sank to his knees in front of the building. The fireman’s actions perplexed Kenan for quite some time, until he figured out what his truth of the story was. Kenan believes that the fireman shrivelled up at the sight of this building burning to the ground because there was nothing he could do to prevent this from happening. He had no control over the calamity that was occurring right before his eyes, and felt powerless. Kenan relates this feeling back to himself, because when he sees the damage happening to his home, and his people, all he wants to do is break down. The events of the war has caused Kenan the emotional