I post this every Veterans Day- this is my grandpa Sante Alberto. He fought in WWII France and returned home with PTSD that made his existing paranoid schizophrenia even worse. He was a brilliant architect and artist, with "Italian movie-star looks", as my grandma once said- but with an absence of resources for veterans- especially veterans with mental illness- he struggled immensely. He was homeless at one point in his life. He died in 2007.
On this Veterans Day, let's not only thank and honor veterans, but also strive for human progress on all levels. More resources and accessible care for veterans. Ending war. Ending mental illness stigma. Ending brutality of all kinds. A kind ear and heart for those struggling. We owe it to not just veterans, but everyone.
