Russia invaded Ukraine today.
That should be the top of everyone's list for terrible events and collective human tragedy. It is not like we didn't know this would happen. All truly awful human rights violations started with men just like Putin convincing other men like him to some how violate everything we know about how to actually be a decent human. It has been happening all over the Middle East for just about forever. It is happening in Somalia. It is happening in North Korea. It is happening in Laos, and in Burma, and Tibet. It is happening all over Africa and South America, and in parts of Australia. And let's be realistic, it is happening in Texas and San Francisco. Because when people are ever seen as less than people (Alabama, I am looking at you) then the people who are doing the violations have already been given reasons to stay in the power structures created often by folks turning a blind eye. So it is with Russia, so it is with Wyoming.
But that is just the political rant I couldn't get away from as I thought about what I would write about. Because all of the invasion news today came to me from one of my clients. He actually started shaking his head when he came in my area, and instead of saying hello, or any kind of other usual polite agreement, he said "So, World War III just started. I am glad I won't remember it".
While remaining calm, secretly freaking out inside, I asked him to explain what he meant. He told me the current event, with a trained soldier precision and devoid of all emotion, and said he would not fight in this one. He had done his tours already. So I asked about why he wouldn't remember it if this was going the way of all terrible wars, and he said that he has just read a report explaining why he was having trouble with short term memory, as he touched a green folder he had brought with him. He opened the folder and took out a page and handed it to me. I asked him if he wanted me to read it, and if he wanted this on the official record or not. He said, yes, read it, but for now, not to put it in his notes. I agreed.
On the page was a summary of a diagnosis of deteriorating and irreversible brain damage, progressive, and more than likely caused during his time in service from repeated brain trauma. There was no expected reversal of current memory loss symptoms, and no treatment that would help slow the damage progression other that what was already being done. He said there was more, outlining what was being done, and what he should seek to help with accommodations. More importantly, to him, a safety plan for when the day came he would not remember how to keep himself safe without first reading it. He needed as many people in his life as possible to read it, so that he would have a safety net as things got worse.
I did all the usual things I would normally do with a client for the next 45 plus minutes, and thought about how the news of the Ukraine seemed small and distant compared to the man in front of me. There would be more people in the future who would be getting the same green folder, with the same diagnosis, because we hadn't yet figured out how to not send people to war. Us. Them. The world bullies. The bystanders. All of us, stuck repeating a history we already know the end to, and my client would no longer know a thing about it. Or about his childhood friends. Or about his marriage. Or about what he had for lunch.
As he was leaving, he picked up the green folder and says for me to remind him to tell me what was in it the next time he is in my office, and that I should read the summary sheet. He had already forgotten that I had read it, so I just said that I would ask him again, and that he could always share anything he needs me to know.
After he left, I started to look up the news, and see if I could find a press statement from the White House. But then I didn't, and just sat there for a while instead, knowing that remembering to look up a news report was a luxury. Russia would take care of itself, and the world would either learn the lesson or not. I had time for figuring that out.
By the time I read the news, listened to the speeches, watched some videos, and formed the opinion about the world I wrote about above, the best question I still had today was I wondered about my client, and which one of us was the lucky one this time around.
