Warrior's Return Quotes

“What if significant reasons our veterans suffer in epidemic numbers lie, to paraphrase Shakespeare, “not in the veterans but in ourselves”? What if the sources of traumatic breakdown are in society; in our beliefs and practices; in the reasons and ways we prepare for and make war; and in the ways we neglect or fail our troops before, during, and after service? What if veterans are carrying our collective war wounding alone because it is denied and disowned by society at large?”
― Edward Tick, Warrior's Return: Restoring the Soul After War

“with meaning, honor, respect, and reintegration into community. When we practice these aright—and it is possible—we fill our communities with honorable, noble, wise elders who in turn serve and mature the society and its most needy.”
― Edward Tick, Warrior's Return: Restoring the Soul After War

“Many civilians do not think war has touched them until they remember that their grandfather was in World War II, their nephew in Bosnia, or their neighbor’s daughter in Iraq. Or that the suicide in their neighborhood was by a despairing veteran for whom life should have been just beginning. Or that the national debt from the war economy squeezed the hope and finances out of their struggling family’s meager resources. War touches us all. We must awaken to how. Our challenge is this: how do we turn war’s inevitable wounding and suffering into wisdom and growth that truly brings warriors home and benefits us all?”
― Edward Tick, Warrior's Return: Restoring the Soul After War

“Our concern is the invisible wounding from war. The physical wounds are most visible to our veterans who deserve first concern. But in truth we are all wounded. Grandparents, parents, siblings, children, friends, neighbors, care providers, teachers, taxpayers are all caught in war’s long and crushing tentacles. Our entire society reels in pain, exhaustion, despair, and debt. Look closely. All lives are affected and we all need be concerned.”
― Edward Tick, Warrior's Return: Restoring the Soul After War

“Return refers not just to bringing troops out of harm’s way but to complete homecoming for the whole person in body, mind, heart, and soul”
― Edward Tick, Warrior's Return: Restoring the Soul After War