Letter to the editor from Fred Griffin which was published in the September 15 issue of The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL).

Letters to the Editor
The Birmingham News
September 15, 2008

 WE MUST FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY, BUT NOT ENGAGE IN KNEE-JERK REACTIONS

    In watching the Republican national convention, references to fighting and combat appeared to dominate the rhetoric of the candidates. For example, in a front-page article in the September 5 Birmingham News, Senator McCain is quoted as saying, “Fight with me.  Fight with me. Fight with me.  Fight for our country.”

 I began to wonder just how far our country has been able to process the trauma we experienced on 9/11.  I am reminded about my work with Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder for whom a variety of even non-threatening stimuli trigger reflexive violent reactions.  Neuroscientists tell us that this set of responses is largely because the emotional experience of the overwhelming trauma becomes lodged in the deep structures of the brain and bypasses the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that permits us to truly think about our experience.  Therefore, we react, rather than reflect-a
knee-jerk reaction.

       This country was violently invaded on 9/11.  We may still be stuck in our own post-traumatic reactions to this event.  One might also wonder if McCain is somehow haunted by post-traumatic reactions to his own private ordeal as a prisoner-of-war, which he so courageously
endured.

      Of course we must fight for our country.  I am in no way advocating for passivity.  But we should not engage in knee-jerk reactions that are robbed of thoughtful reflection about additional avenues to create safety for our country and to restore our country’s standing on the world stage.

Fred L. Griffin, M.D.