Home from war should never be a gray area

Home from war should never be a gray area
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 26, 2013

In 1993 I was among the millions discovering the amazing ability to search news reports from all over the country when I got my first PC. (For younger folks, that was a time when there was a freaky noise connecting the PC to the internet as the connection was made thru a phone line.)

I freely admit to being a new junkie but as the years passed, I was frustrated searching for information on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I wondered why these reports were not all in one place. I did what I usually do. I complained. Then I thought about the national news reports I watched faithfully. It became clear that the producers make decisions based on what they think will get the most attention instead of what should have the most attention.

The numbers of veterans taking their own lives proves that it is a national crisis but how many reports have you seen on national news? How many families have you seen begging for someone to do something? How many reports have you seen on what works and how long it has worked for? How many reports on veterans stepping up to make sure more are saved?

Across the nation the best reporting being done on veterans issues has come from local news outlets. Heart tugging stories of suffering, inspiring stories of overcoming and people trying to make a difference, all important stories to the rest of us were ignored by the major news stations. Print was dying a slow death. It has been on life support for years but good reporting has not stopped.

If you read your local paper, tell them what you value. If they write a good story on veterans, thank them and encourage them to do more. Have an event? Make sure they know about it. Have a story to tell? Make sure you tell it. If the story is important enough they will usually do it. If they don't, then tell your story to your friends online and make sure they share it. The more attention it gets online, the more they will be inclined to jump on it and get their share of the attention. If you read a great story, send me the link in case I missed it.

Your lives should never, ever be a gray area. You deserve to know what is going on across your city, your state and the rest of the country. Otherwise, the major news stations will keep telling you what they want you to know instead of what is really going on.