More memes and mental health
This one is a photo of a guy in fatigues and two dogs.
"Please be considerate, not everyone likes fireworks"
Yeah, so we know firecracker days and when they fall in our respective countries at this time of year. In Canada, it's going to be the 1st of July and in the US, the 4th. PTSD is no exception to the - you need to find resolution for your mental health issue. No one asked for mental illness - and soldiers are actually slightly more responsible than most people, whose childhood traumas fucked them over. They chose to go to war, after all - not suggesting anything by saying that except that they are absolutely not excepted from my belief that you a) need to seek treatment for what ails you and b) can't expect the world to bend to your needs.
Soldiers might want to prepare, turn their TV sets up loud, go to somewhere deep in the country where they're not likely to hear, wear some headphones for the night, and make sure that they talk to their therapist about some strategies before that day and most of all, just be aware that fireworks are not fucking guns and bombs going off. And I'm not even sure that fireworks are a problem for most soldiers with PTSD. I have some close personal experience with PTSD that is quite recent, and while it doesn't have anything to do with war - the symptoms are the same. First responders get it too, and the common things are the inability to sleep, extremely realistic dreams if you can sleep at all, and a hyper vigilance - a constant feeling that something is going to happen - in other words, anxiety on steroids. Unfortunately, fireworks, if they do bring on these hyper-realistic dreams (which they might) are hardly the only things that will. Ongoing treatment is the answer, and the only answer. And maybe a therapy dog, which is a good segue to the other creatures that may not like fireworks.
Mine are fine, they don't give a crap. My elder is half lab, labs are duck dogs, their genetic memory conditions them against gun noises, or they wouldn't make very good hunting companions. Rotts are even better - they're war dogs, lack of fear was bred into them. Bubs on the other hand is terrified of T-storms (and it's not the sound, clearly) and power outages, and I'm not about putting out memes saying that mother nature should be considerate of my dog, and that the government (or well, private companies) better keep the fucking lights on. Right?
Sure, you can argue that one can be avoided while t-storms and power outages really can't be, but why the fuck should millions of people and millions of dogs that don't react have to go without because a few people and dogs may have a reaction? They shouldn't - that's the thing - they shouldn't. The few should mitigate their own problem and much like my dog who shakes, shivers, paces and pants through every t-storm and power outage, just live with it, they will survive and once it's over they'll be back to their normal selves. And try a thundershirt, it might work too, or melatonin, it also might work - things that don't work for my dog. And if you are really that concerned, get your vet to put your dog on Prozac.
And shut up about being super hyper considerate because someone might have a problem. Tiptoeing through life and walking on eggshells because you might set someone off is no way to live. Find your own ways to avoid your problems that don't involve telling other people what to do.
Signed the person who suffers through shrieking children every day, and yet knows there is not a damn thing I can do except find a way for me to deal with it from this end.