Survival Syndrome

Last night, I met with a veteran friend of my husband. He survived Vietnam War. He got one shot and lost friends but survived. He got the opportunities to visit Vietnam Memorial in past, were never able to gather enough strength to read his martyr comrades’ names on wall. Yesterday he did. He was on a business travel to D.C., before coming here, he spent hours with psychiatrist, but still he was not sure that he would make it. He hired a taxi to travel D.C. He went to memorial but was not able to leave the taxi. The taxi driver told him, “Whatever will happen, let it happen, Sir”. Finally he visited the memorial and read the names of his 19 friends who lost their lives in war. He cried like a baby there..

One of my husband’s colleagues is a native of Vietnam, who came to this country during Vietnam War. He never went back to his country. But he never felt comfortable in talking about the war. Even talks filled him with vicious feelings of the sufferings of his friends, relatives and people of his ‘country of birth’.

Two people came from same situation and had same emotions for being belonged to two different sides of the war. Psychologically, both are suffering from same syndrome ‘Survival Syndrome’. Probably every person suffers from this syndrome up to some extent. The news of terror attack on my country filled me with anger and disgust. I am relatively safer here, but most of people use the public transportation and go to crowded places for their livings. Every act of pushing back the fair sex makes me feel like someone is questioning my capability. Pictures of poor, weak and naked children realize the small gap between them and others.