Secret Past

Secret Past

It was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! Isaiah 53:4

“Darrell, I’m so sorry to hear of your dad’s passing,” I said. Darrell’s father had been one of my patients in the nursing home, and he’d recently died.

“I wish you had known him in his prime,” Darrell said. “He was a strong and courageous man.”

“I know he struggled those last few years.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry he gave everyone at the home such a hard time. The Vietnam War caused a dramatic change in him. He wouldn’t tell us much about it, but every now and then, something would slip out.”

“What do you mean?”

“He would say things like, ‘It was bad,’ and, ‘Bad things happened, but it was war.’”

“Darrell, we now have a name for that. We call it PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. It happens when people have seen something they can’t stop remembering. Many of our soldiers have come home with vivid memories of the trauma they endured on the battlefield, and they have to deal with it. It can be hard for them and their families.”

“All these years, we always thought Dad went crazy because of something he’d done. Frankly, we thought God was punishing him for some crime he’d committed that no one knew about. It wasn’t until after he died that we found out Dad had not done anything bad. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He was a medic, and he was decorated for bravery multiple times for saving others.”

Darrell’s story of his father’s valor gave me a glimpse into the past of a difficult patient. But Darrell’s dad wasn’t the only one who had a secret past. Many of my patients have lived lives that they’ve kept from their friends and family. We may not hear their stories until after they’re gone. Sometimes the bravest people don’t have the courage to tell their stories while they’re alive, and we can draw the wrong conclusions if we’re not careful.

TODAY’S RX

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Treat everyone you meet with compassion.

Protect those who serve our country, God. Give them courage and strength to fight the good fight, and provide healing for them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.