I'd Rather You Try to Imagine

There's so much to write about but what brought me to writing tonight is remembering the discussion today in Psych 101 with my students when I previewed the new DVD entitled: Help from Home--Deployment Support for Miitary Service Members and Families, developed by TriWest Healthcare Alliance for Veterans of the Global War on Terror.

This resource is also available on-line at www.triwest.com and includes two 30-minute segments that discuss the issues related to Veterans readjusting to civilian life as they return to families and resume jobs, etc.
My students in this particular class wanted to argue that they would never find themselves in the military and therefore this information had nothing to do with them. One student responded to my request for critique of the film, in terms of the Cascadia Learning Outcome, to interact in diverse and complex environments, as not applicable to her because, again, she would never join the military. She asked if she should "pretend" that she was a Veteran and I said, no, I'd rather you try to imagine how this information might be useful to you, even though you believe you won't find yourself in a post-deployment experience.

Could it be, I asked, that you might find yourself working in a job with a formerly deployed soldier who is experiencing the transition to civilian life? Could it be that you may find a career path in service to Veterans? A career path that involves knowledge of psychology and strategies to support the families of Veterans?