We are all veterans. For five years, writer Maxine Hong Kingston has led a Mindful Writing Program for Veterans, under the auspices of the Community of Mindful Living. Sitting in a circle. Forming a campfire, a sangha. Recalling the past and writing about it.
People bring stories of inconceivable pain.
Moreover, they often come convinced they'll just listen because they could never, or are not yet ready to, dive into their own wreckage. Yet the group reassures them that they are not alone. Like a windshield shattered by a baseball, each crack and fissure is part of the pattern. Having to put it into words, processing it, they face their pain squarely. They lay their burden down.