#32 Brothers Under the Bridge by Bruce Springsteen

Not undermining their sense of duty or purpose, but for many soldiers sent off to fight in war, they will admit that their main goal is survival. It is to keep themselves and their brothers in arms fighting along side them alive. The bond that forms between these men and women is a strong one because they become who they live for and who they die for.

After months or maybe years of living in this survival mode, these soldiers are brought back to civilian life where they must continue on living, going back to meaningless tasks such as picking out a box of cereal. They also engage in days of celebration, some that are meant to honor their service. How far removed these clean, organized celebrations must feel from the realties they have lived through.

They go back to a “normal” existence that will never be normal again. The images they saw, the lives they watched be taken, their own brothers gone before their eyes – these ghosts will haunt their minds for the rest of their days. They will never be fully present in the moment, fully engaged in the lives of those around them. A part of them will always still be back in the canyon, back on the ridge, back with their “brothers under the bridge”.

There’s only so much one human can take…

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