Mental Health, vets, homelessness---and it started with men wearing large hats and riding horses, falsely claiming ownership of history that never was owned by white men.
It was in the year 1982 when I started to see the downfall of men in the United States. Society was dealing with a movie star president and HIV.
Now to be clear, I did not recognize the slippery slope myself–it was only in retrospect. It was watching young men buy bandannas and look for extra large hunting knives. And hitting the gym like it was a style that only genetically gifted would ever possess.
Young men running around acting out 7 dollars movie popcorn antics in the streets. Acting like kitchen tables provide cover for hollow point projectiles. Shot by idiots with no regard for the term innocent bystander.
This was the frozen hill that brought us muscled men. And overly large concussion inducing weapons that pointed us in the direction of the term Toxic. Men started to try and emulate the silver screen definition of Man. They all failed. Because like the movie that I speak about it was a epic real world failure.
These tombs transferred our thoughts from real world problems like HIV, Homeless Vietnam Vets, income equality, infrastructure and many others issues. And made us believe that we could achieve this level of murder if we only had the weapons. The man against the machine of Law and Order.
Those turning the next generation of men who at the time held the dominate amount of power in this country into war hawks. And with unemotional stoic idealism.
Let me make this clear it started many years ago with men wearing large hats and riding horses. Falsely claiming ownership of history that never was owned by white men. But it’s tipping point was this troglodyte view of that the gunman was correct in his wholesale murder of men.
When we should have seen that this movie spoke of what we could have done if we classified this as PTSD. And had the wherewithal to to get this vet help versus leaving him homeless. The movie for all its badassery was a sad movie of how we treat Vets and those that have mental health issues.
Now why do I say this movie was the downfall? Because it started turning many young men into humans that preferred violence versus therapy. If you do a simple google search you can see the school shooting deaths in the 80s tripled and in one occasion 5 times the number from decades before became the norm.
What could we have done if that poisonish movie was boring as hell and Rambo got and found therapy and a home with medication available. True very dull but what message would that have started versus what we got.
Sooner into therapy the sooner in recovery. Men get help for mental health issues violence against your fellow man and woman. It will no longer be allowed… And we need you.
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Brian Cardoza is a State Certified Peer Support Specialist. The author of The Unexpected Victim, founder Survivor Knights and Chasing Immortality, and a motivational speaker for survivors. Learn more at www.brian-cardoza.com
