I Put My Hand on the Wall w/ Judy Isaacson Elias

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There are few things that make people successful.

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Taking a step forward to change their lives is one successful trait, but it takes some

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time to get there.

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How do you move forward to greet the success that awaits you?

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Welcome to Next Steps Forward with host Chris Meek.

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Each week, Chris brings on another guest who has successfully taken the next steps forward.

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Now, here is Chris Meek.

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Hello.

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You've tuned in this week's episode of Next Steps Forward, and I'm your host, Chris Meek.

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As always, it's a pleasure and honor to have you with us.

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Our focus is on personal empowerment, a commitment to well-being, and the motivation to achieve

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more than you ever thought possible.

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We have another outstanding guest this week.

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Judy Isaacson Elias is the daughter of the late Irving M. Isaacson, a proud World War

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II U.S. Army veteran.

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Judy's father landed in France on the second day of the Normandy invasion.

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She fought in the Battle of the Bulge and liberated a concentration camp as a soldier

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in the Army's 80th Infantry.

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As a teenager, Judy's life was changed when she was sent on a pilgrimage to Israel with

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her youth group.

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Reconnecting with God, her faith, and her people helped her to understand the importance

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of faith and healing.

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Years later, those lessons led to her founding of Heroes to Heroes Foundation, which helps

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veterans heal from their invisible wounds by reconnecting them with their Creator to

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rebuild their lives, find peace, and accept forgiveness.

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Thank you for joining us.

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We'll see you next week.

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Bye-bye.

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Chris, thank you so much for having me.

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I'm honored to be here.

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Thanks for your time, and I guess I should have taken more coffee.

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I'm struggling through the beginning of the show, so I apologize for that intro.

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I guess it's the holiday mayhem going on around here.

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It's an exhausting time, you know.

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It is, so I appreciate your grace.

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Thank you.

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Seeing firsthand the horrors of a concentration camp would leave scars on anyone, especially

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a young soldier, and even more in particular, a young Jewish soldier like your dad.

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bed. Did he ever talk about that experience? You know, I recall something, one moment where

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he talked about hearing something from a German nurse where she was kind of dismissive of what

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went on and he was furious. And I don't know if that's in my head. I don't know if he mentioned

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that once. I, you know, I think he did and it, it struck me, but I was too young and I was too,

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I guess I wasn't curious enough and I didn't ask the next question. And, you know, that's,

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I always tell my kids, ask me whatever you want to ask me now,

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because I wish there are so many questions I wish I would have asked him.

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I noted that your father was a proud World War II veteran. Your pride in him is very obvious

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also.

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Still, you had what sounds like a strange home life growing up. What caused that, at least in

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part, but was that caused by, excuse me, by the invisible wounds of war that your dad carried

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with him in the years after his combat service? You know, my dad often said the best years of

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his life were when he was in the army. And in many ways, I think he kept, continued to live that life

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in his head. He had a tough time connecting with us. I mean, he lived in a family of women.

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There were, you know, three daughters and my mother. I also think my mother, you know,

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it was a very tough relationship. My sisters have emotional challenges

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and that have, that are with them still. My mother, you know, thank God she's still with us.

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She's 97 years old, but she never really wanted to be a mom. She never wanted to be that wife.

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She was not, she was a,

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a woman who had her master's degree in 1954. She lived six months in Paris.

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She, she wasn't the right spouse for him. And I think it made it very difficult for him to

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transition back to civilian life because he didn't find joy in, I think his marriage,

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um, but also with us, with the girls, you know, like with he, he and I had a special relationship.

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I was a bit of a tomboy.

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I love basketball. I love softball. So he built me a, a basketball court and he was proud that I

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wanted to do, you know, little league and play softball. Um, but he didn't connect. And I know

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the, there was so much tension in my house that I gave up on my family, you know, at a very young

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age. And I felt a lack,

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um, of something, you know, I don't even, you know, I think love was part of it.

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Understanding. I mean, at the time kids were seen and not heard. It was go outside. It's the

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weekend, go outside. It's Saturday morning, get out of the house, come back dinners at six 10,

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figure out what you're doing. And that was our lives. And we, you know, I remember

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it was mainly me because my sisters did not have the social connections,

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but I would just go.

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We would build forts in the woods. We, I don't know. We do all kinds of stuff. We were so busy.

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So I found my life outside of my home. And when I was in my home, I never felt comfortable

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and I never felt safe. I didn't have friends come over. I would spend time at friends homes,

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but I would never, you know, I'd go over for sleepover and sleepover parties, but I would

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never do that in my own home. My home was not a safe place.

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For that. And, you know, it's, I know for my dad, he couldn't connect with us.

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I remember him sitting there and in the middle of like, you know, there's something going on

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at the table and he brings in a total non sequitur. He wasn't really present for us.

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And I think a lot of that had to do with the military. And I think we bring into our marriages

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a lot of stuff that we're looking for. He was looking not to connect. So he married someone

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who wouldn't connect with him. And having a father not connected and a mother not wanting to be there,

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you know, was too much. And I developed a lot of habits and a lot of, how do I say it?

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I guess a self image based around not,

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having that love. I never felt like I was going to starve to death. I never felt like, you know,

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we, you know, my parents struggled. My father wasn't able to hold down jobs for long periods

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of time. He had an associate's degree in engine, in heating and refrigeration. And he, that was

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his thing. He liked to, to play with, you know, he'd like to build things and tinker with things.

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And, you know, my younger sister,

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I was interested in that. I wasn't interested in that. So, you know, we just, we worked around it,

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but, you know, things started to get worse and worse as I got older. And I think a lot of it

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had to do with maybe his angst, now that I understand raising children a little bit more,

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his angst at having a teenage daughter. But it got harder and harder. And I started connecting

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with him less and less. And he was, you know, he was, you know, he was, you know, he was, you know,

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he was my connection to home. So by the age of 16, I was checked out. I found all of the great

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characters that your parents want you to find. The people who are drinking beer in the woods at

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the age of 15 and who are smoking pot and the experimenters. And we figured out how to get IDs

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because it was a drinking age was 18. I grew up in New Jersey. And so basically if you look like

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you were somewhat old enough,

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you were able to buy alcohol. So I was going down a very self-destructive path.

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I started smoking cigarettes, everything that was negative. And I don't know where I would be

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if it hadn't been, you know, I went to stay with a friend of mine's family. Her parents took like

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in all the strays, you know, they were, they were just kind of cool people who,

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who just loved everybody. You know, they took care of everyone's friends. We want you to be

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happy. And to this day, I'm close with that family. But I spoke to my father and my father

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at one point said, would you go to Israel on this program? And I said, well, my first reaction was,

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I want nothing to do with Israel. I had, you know, I was raised, I'm Jewish. I was raised

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Jewish. For some reason, that was something that my parents, there was a stickler there. It was

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always being about being Jewish. And it was kind of my way to get in their craw too, is kind of go,

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okay, well, I'm going to reject that. Cause that's important to, you know, subconsciously,

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you know, but that's important to them. I'm going to, this is how I do it.

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And I, first I said, I don't want to go. And he said, would you please go for me?

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Now for my dad to say that when there was, I never heard him say anything about himself.

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I never heard him say, it's my birthday. I want a cake. He never asked for anything for himself

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ever. And when he asked me for that, I just went, whoa, I can, I have to check this out.

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And then in my stupid 16 year old brain, I'm thinking, wow, there's no drinking age.

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It's all a bunch of teens. I can go, this could be like the party for six weeks. I'm in.

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So then the story starts to like, get, become more about less about the family and more about me

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because I spent my whole younger life kind of protecting myself from my family.

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And that hasn't changed.

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But I just, you know, and it, it taught me a lot of really cool things, which I'm, I've learned now,

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you know, when I was a kid, I never bullied anyone. I never called anyone a name. I never like

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got into any of that. And I think it was because my home struggle was so much that

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I could only imagine what other people were going through. And at least in my social life,

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I didn't have, I felt safe.

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And I felt like that's something I always had to do for other people was give them that safety and,

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you know, not really thinking it through, but knowing it was just so wrong to hurt anyone,

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to call them a name or leave them out. And I, I'm still very conscious of that.

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And I think it's also led me to where I am today.

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So going back to that period where the next thing I know, I'm on a plane to Israel, I'm on a plane to Israel.

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So going back to that period where the next thing I know, I'm on a plane to Israel, I'm on a plane to Israel.

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And there's a crazy story with that too. Now, if you can picture this, okay, there are 300 teenagers on a charter flight to Israel,

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leaving from JFK airport on July 4th, 1977, I believe, or 76.

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I'm not sure which, which year it was. I think it was 77.

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I'm not sure which, which year it was. I think it was 77.

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And there's smoking.

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And there's smoking.

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smoking aloud in the airplane. Okay. You can't even imagine this. Okay. And

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some ding-a-ling decides to hijack some kind of truck at JFK airport or something. There was some

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big hijacking and it's, it's, I should have looked it up before I did, but like, you know,

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we're on this plane. Now there's 300 kids. We're on the plane, on the tarmac at JFK,

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ready to take off. And there's some major police action going on with some hijacker who hijacked a

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bus, or I don't know, remember what it was, but he's driving all around and there are all these

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cops and the plane is delayed by like four hours and we can't get off the plane, but they have to

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turn out the lights on the plane. And we ought to all like be, they're telling us to be quiet,

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but we're 300 kids, right? And we're,

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we're lying all over the seats. Some people are on the floor. They're telling us don't go near the

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windows, you know, and it's crazy. This went on for four hours. This was the, my first airplane

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flight because at the time only wealthy, wealthy people got on the airplane and we are having a

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blast and they're telling us we can't smoke because they can't turn the plane on because

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this ding-a-ling is hijacking some kind of bus or something. So this is our intro.

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And I don't even know why I told that story, but it's just such a crazy story. It just,

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you know, and, but we don't care about this hijacker. We're not afraid of anything.

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We're 16, 17, and we're having a blast. I'm sure there were kids who were terrified,

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but I'm just, I've just never been that person. And I was not that person then.

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So we fly and this starts this whole, and I'm going, this is the greatest time I'm ever having.

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It's.

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Such a party time. This is going to be even better. Anyway, we get to the day we're going

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to the Western wall. Now the Western wall for the Jewish people, it's the last surviving wall

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from our holiest, our, our holy temple. There were two temples built on that site.

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They were both destroyed on the same day, you know, century, a couple of centuries later.

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Okay.

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And it's a very, it's our holiest site, the holy of holies. We all know about the arc,

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the holy of holies. The Western wall was the closest wall to that part of the holy temple.

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And in Jewish liturgy, we pray for the rebuilding of that holy temple three times a day. It is,

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we look toward, we pray toward Jerusalem. It is the site that from little children,

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we are taught. This is so important. And this is 3000 years of history.

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Okay. I'm feeling it in my bones and I'm going there and I say, I can't do this

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because I have done. I have really been bad. I have kind of, in so many ways, cursed God.

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I can't go to this wall. This is like, you know, I don't know what's going to happen to me. I don't

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think he's going to.

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strike me dead, but I was afraid. I was afraid to go. I didn't know what I would, I was afraid of

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what I was going to feel when I look back at it. Friends of mine said, you got to go, you got to do

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it. And, you know, we're walking there and if people who have been to Jerusalem and the old

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city, you're walking and walking and walking. And, you know, we were walking through the,

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the Armenian quarter and the Christian quarter and the Jewish quarter. And, you know, finally we

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get there and the way they took us, they wanted, they took us in a roundabout way. So we would be

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ready. And I, the whole time I'm going, I can't do it. Friends of mine, literally holding onto me,

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grabbing each arm and saying, you're going. When we get up to the wall, put my hand on that wall

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and it was, the feeling just came through me. I felt like my heart was put back together.

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And I felt like everything I was doing, I was ashamed. And at the same time, I said, wait,

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I can fix this. And from that moment on, you know, I thanked God for bringing me to that moment. We

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say a prayer. It's called the Shehecheyanu and it thanks God. We thank God for many moments,

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bringing us to a special time.

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And I said that prayer and I just cried. And it, you know, just my very soul, I was just

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thinking, okay, how am I going to make my life better? And in the Jewish faith, we believe in

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atonement and we have a path to atonement and we believe it. We change what we've done and never

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go back to it. We can, we get God's forgiveness. And so I said, all right, I've got to get my

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act together. I've got to do something more because life is, there's a, I have a bigger

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mission in this life. I don't know what it is. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing,

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but I've got to figure it out. And I've got to start acting like a decent human being,

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stop acting like a child, move forward, stop blaming other people and let's get moving.

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And from that moment on, I started my journey, which has been,

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has taken it. I don't even think it's taken turns. It's just taken education. It's taken

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like a couple bumps in the road and maybe a smack in the face here and there and stop being a baby

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kind of thing. But I, I just been on this journey and, you know, I got back from Israel. I got,

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started taking school a bit more seriously. I graduated from high school,

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got into an,

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okay college, went to the okay college, spent my junior year at Hebrew university in Israel,

201
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which started, I started learning more about my people, who I am

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and what's expected. And I, you know, I started going, wow, this is a beautiful faith. Like,

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wow, what's with me? You know, all the answers are in the Torah. Why, what am I looking for?

204
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Let me just like, go back to this and start figuring this thing out.

205
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And I finished school, go back to New York, get into advertising, do my thing. I meet my

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now ex-husband. And I realized one of the things that I didn't unlearn was I recreated my

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childhood home in my new marriage. And I think that if I could, I, you know, I don't think I

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can stress that enough.

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Marriage is so important. And as I've learned since then, marriage can be a very beautiful

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thing, but we've got to be careful. We got to fix what was going on before

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and really take a look at it before we move forward. I thought faith and finding someone

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who was interested in living a life of faith with me would solve a lot of those problems.

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Um, but I brought myself into it. He brought himself into it. And though we brought God into

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our relationship, we didn't know how to keep God there. You know, in the Jewish faith, we believe

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that there's three people in every marriage, the husband, the wife, and God. And as long as God is

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in that marriage, that marriage stays together. We didn't know how to keep God with us in a positive

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way. We did raise two amazing sons. And I will say, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't

218
00:20:47,460 --> 00:20:47,480
know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't

219
00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:55,100
say I am grateful for their father every single day for those two boys. And we did something right

220
00:20:55,100 --> 00:21:00,960
together. We were somehow good parents somehow. I don't know. We were not good spouses. So,

221
00:21:01,100 --> 00:21:10,160
but I recreated that same situation. And, um, you know, we're taking a long time to get to

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heroes to heroes, but we're getting there. Um, so in 2001, my father died as a result of a

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car accident and he was on his way to a Jewish war veterans meeting. Uh, I didn't even realize

224
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that he was 81 years old, but at that point he had been working with wounded veterans for 20

225
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years and he was volunteering and he would take them to medical appointments, the theater,

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ball games, whatever it is they wanted to do, food shopping. Um,

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that's how he and his buddies is, would spend their time. They would have breakfast every

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Wednesday and then they would go and they do their volunteer work and make sure that's like

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them who actually weren't as fortunate as they are. We're taken care of. And I heard this for

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00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:14,140
the first time at his funeral and he had, you know, full military, you know, the whole service.

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And, you know, I still, I have his,

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his flag and, um, I heard it for the first time. He would never talk about it. He would tell me,

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oh, I went to Fort Dix for something. And I didn't know anything about the military at the time. So

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I thought, oh, they all go for, you know, once you're a vet, you go there for lunch. You know,

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I didn't know. So he was doing all this and I'm, and I started talking to his friends and they all

236
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said to me, we worried about your dad because he never talked and he would never, we,

237
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all would talk about world war two. And he was, you know, one other guy was in battle of the bulge.

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My father would never talk to him about it. So we were always worried. And one of his friends said

239
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to me, it's kind of weird that his life ended this way. We always thought he would choose his time

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and place. And I went, what are you, that, what are you talking about? And he didn't, you know,

241
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I didn't say it, but I just let it simmer.

242
00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:21,740
In 2009, I was invited to Walter Reed to visit our soldiers when it was in DC.

243
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And what I saw as an American, as a mom, as a mom of two sons that did not volunteer,

244
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we were the first generation that didn't have soldiers

245
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:41,280
in my family since our family came here at the turn of the century.

246
00:23:42,780 --> 00:23:46,300
And I just said, like, what is this?

247
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Why are these guys so sad to be home? Why are they sad? You know, I know they're,

248
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they're injured, but why do they need to go back? What is that need? What,

249
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why are they afraid to be here? And I looked into their eyes. I said, there's something going on.

250
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:08,840
I have to help them. I come from corporate America. I'm a problem solver. I like to,

251
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:14,080
I want to fix things. So I started volunteering,

252
00:24:14,580 --> 00:24:16,300
start meeting,

253
00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,920
our vets and I'm saying something's wrong here.

254
00:24:20,460 --> 00:24:22,740
A lot of what I was seeing, I wasn't happy with.

255
00:24:23,100 --> 00:24:26,280
There were people going drinking for a weekend and you know,

256
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,600
they're going away here, going away there, but nothing's really happening.

257
00:24:30,420 --> 00:24:32,400
And I said, what's going on?

258
00:24:32,460 --> 00:24:36,660
Then I find out the suicide rate at the time was 22 a day. And I'm going,

259
00:24:36,660 --> 00:24:41,460
what? This is a crisis. This is a national crisis.

260
00:24:41,460 --> 00:24:43,560
Why aren't we shouting this from the rooftops?

261
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:46,060
Why aren't we putting everything else?

262
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Aside until we fix this problem.

263
00:24:49,540 --> 00:24:54,100
And so I started looking into suicide because in my darkest days that never

264
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occurred to me.

265
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So I'm reading.

266
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And if you'd start going through the research and you dig all the way through,

267
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:07,600
you will find that it looks like it comes down to a few different things.

268
00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:12,300
And the two that struck me were sense of belonging and faith.

269
00:25:13,540 --> 00:25:15,100
And I said, whoa,

270
00:25:16,300 --> 00:25:19,120
I remembered my time when I was 16,

271
00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:23,560
when I had thought I cursed God and I'd walked away from everything dear.

272
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,180
I said, I wonder if they're going through what I went through,

273
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:34,480
what if I gave them that same journey, whatever faith they are,

274
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,740
what if they got to experience their faith, where it all began,

275
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:44,860
where they could feel it, taste it, smell it, and do it in an unashamed manner.

276
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Would they get,

277
00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:47,980
what I got out of that journey?

278
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:50,240
And the next thing I know,

279
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:50,880
a friend of mine says,

280
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:51,220
Oh,

281
00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:52,320
I'll support you.

282
00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:53,380
No problem.

283
00:25:53,620 --> 00:25:53,980
Okay.

284
00:25:53,980 --> 00:25:54,900
Famous last words,

285
00:25:54,900 --> 00:25:55,080
right?

286
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:55,900
Chris.

287
00:25:56,180 --> 00:25:56,640
And,

288
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:57,480
uh,

289
00:25:57,480 --> 00:25:58,880
the next thing I know,

290
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,240
heroes to heroes is founded.

291
00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:03,880
Now I've got to make this work,

292
00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:09,440
but what ended up that was in September on September 11th,

293
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:13,840
2011 at the time the program was,

294
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,640
let me just take them on the journey.

295
00:26:16,060 --> 00:26:21,820
I took a team of 10 American veterans to Israel.

296
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:24,760
And during that time,

297
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:29,140
what I witnessed just made me believe,

298
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:29,920
wow,

299
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:31,180
this is so important.

300
00:26:31,220 --> 00:26:32,380
And I didn't even know why,

301
00:26:33,020 --> 00:26:35,140
but I watched these veterans.

302
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:37,840
Many of them had suicidal ideation,

303
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:39,640
many,

304
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,640
many attempts prior to this journey.

305
00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:46,000
I watched them go from death to life.

306
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,340
I watched them reconnect.

307
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,080
I watched them find faith.

308
00:26:50,140 --> 00:26:51,460
I watched them the most,

309
00:26:51,460 --> 00:26:52,900
most importantly,

310
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,260
find forgiveness and find belonging.

311
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:02,740
Now fast forward to 2018.

312
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,420
And at that point,

313
00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:09,580
over 200 veterans have gone through this program and they're asking me for

314
00:27:09,580 --> 00:27:10,240
more and more.

315
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:10,960
We need more.

316
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:12,820
We need to be better prepared.

317
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:15,900
And I reach out to a gentleman named Dr.

318
00:27:15,900 --> 00:27:19,380
Joseph Currier out of university of South Alabama.

319
00:27:20,100 --> 00:27:20,220
Well,

320
00:27:20,220 --> 00:27:20,520
Dr.

321
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,380
Currier is a,

322
00:27:22,580 --> 00:27:25,080
what they call a moral injury expert.

323
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:27,260
I say,

324
00:27:27,900 --> 00:27:28,160
Hey,

325
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:29,340
I don't know what we're doing,

326
00:27:29,340 --> 00:27:30,600
but this is really working.

327
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:31,820
And he says to me,

328
00:27:31,820 --> 00:27:33,200
he calls me back and he says,

329
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,400
I think you've found the solution to moral injury.

330
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:38,660
And I said,

331
00:27:38,660 --> 00:27:38,940
well,

332
00:27:38,940 --> 00:27:39,660
talk to me.

333
00:27:40,740 --> 00:27:41,540
What is this?

334
00:27:42,180 --> 00:27:43,020
And he says,

335
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:45,720
this is basically the shame and guilt.

336
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:45,780
Yeah.

337
00:27:45,900 --> 00:27:51,640
It's brought home from war from an action taken or not taken during service.

338
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:52,560
He said,

339
00:27:52,620 --> 00:27:53,140
it's,

340
00:27:53,220 --> 00:27:54,020
you know,

341
00:27:54,060 --> 00:27:55,080
moral injury can,

342
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:55,340
you know,

343
00:27:55,360 --> 00:28:01,060
explained it can be doctors can be anyone who has done something that's

344
00:28:01,060 --> 00:28:04,620
either created a crisis in their lives or someone else's life.

345
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:06,060
And I'm going,

346
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:06,820
wait a minute.

347
00:28:06,820 --> 00:28:11,620
I'm thinking this sounds like a lot of the guys I'm working with and the

348
00:28:11,620 --> 00:28:13,900
women I'm working with where they're saying,

349
00:28:14,100 --> 00:28:15,860
I shouldn't have,

350
00:28:15,860 --> 00:28:17,060
I shouldn't have done that.

351
00:28:17,060 --> 00:28:17,620
I mean,

352
00:28:17,620 --> 00:28:18,420
God hates me.

353
00:28:18,420 --> 00:28:18,900
And Dr.

354
00:28:18,900 --> 00:28:19,700
Currier said,

355
00:28:19,700 --> 00:28:20,100
okay,

356
00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:21,240
let me help you with this.

357
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:22,040
I want in,

358
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,620
I want to do some research on what you're doing.

359
00:28:24,620 --> 00:28:25,760
And so based on Dr.

360
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:27,020
Courier's research,

361
00:28:27,020 --> 00:28:29,240
we have developed a 12 month curriculum.

362
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,240
And we now take veterans through this journey,

363
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:36,620
this one year long journey where we start with values.

364
00:28:36,620 --> 00:28:39,080
We prepare them for four months.

365
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,600
And then we start to work on them.

366
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:43,680
And then we start to work on them.

367
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:45,680
And then we start to work on them.

368
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:46,800
Who are you?

369
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:47,920
What are you doing here?

370
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,720
What are your values as opposed to your family's values,

371
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:53,120
your society's values?

372
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:55,340
What is important to you?

373
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:57,260
How did that change before?

374
00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,560
How has that changed since your service?

375
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:00,760
Has it changed?

376
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:01,940
Has it not changed?

377
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,180
Are we living a life of values?

378
00:29:05,780 --> 00:29:09,780
What does a day of living our values look like now?

379
00:29:09,780 --> 00:29:10,020
You know,

380
00:29:10,020 --> 00:29:15,140
it's a good exercise for everyone out there for listeners,

381
00:29:15,140 --> 00:29:15,640
viewers,

382
00:29:16,180 --> 00:29:18,400
what you need to do what you need to do.

383
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:19,580
I'm not going to tell you what you need to do,

384
00:29:19,580 --> 00:29:20,880
but one thing we can do,

385
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,720
take a look at your day from most to least.

386
00:29:25,900 --> 00:29:27,220
How do you spend your time?

387
00:29:29,260 --> 00:29:30,760
Then look at your values.

388
00:29:31,460 --> 00:29:33,100
What are your top five values?

389
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:36,980
Does that day match your values?

390
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:38,740
Are we living our values?

391
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:44,680
What does a day need to look like to live our values?

392
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:47,040
What are we putting?

393
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:48,540
Where are we putting our time?

394
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:50,100
Where are we putting our efforts?

395
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,840
Are those the most important things to us?

396
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:59,000
So that's the first thing we go through with our participants.

397
00:29:59,260 --> 00:30:00,940
They start to look at their lives.

398
00:30:01,220 --> 00:30:02,560
How does my life look?

399
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:03,900
What is important to me?

400
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:05,700
How am,

401
00:30:05,700 --> 00:30:07,340
how can I change that?

402
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,100
How can I give more time to church,

403
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:12,020
to Bible study,

404
00:30:12,220 --> 00:30:13,300
to my family?

405
00:30:14,140 --> 00:30:15,220
How can I find more?

406
00:30:15,220 --> 00:30:15,620
How can I,

407
00:30:15,620 --> 00:30:17,740
how can I put my family instead of number seven?

408
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,100
How can I put my family at number one or two?

409
00:30:21,300 --> 00:30:22,620
How do we do that?

410
00:30:22,900 --> 00:30:24,360
And we have to do it consciously.

411
00:30:24,820 --> 00:30:28,740
And so we help them consciously live their values.

412
00:30:29,660 --> 00:30:32,020
What is it that brought them to us?

413
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:34,360
What is the incident?

414
00:30:35,300 --> 00:30:37,360
We'd have them do something called movie Ola.

415
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,040
What does that incident look like?

416
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:42,320
If it were in a movie and you were filming it,

417
00:30:43,460 --> 00:30:45,240
how did it end?

418
00:30:46,620 --> 00:30:48,240
How do we change that ending?

419
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:50,700
How do we look at that?

420
00:30:50,860 --> 00:30:52,100
How can we look at that from the,

421
00:30:52,260 --> 00:30:53,400
as an outsider?

422
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,580
Because often what happens with our veterans,

423
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:57,560
our soldiers,

424
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,180
they're part of being a soldier is taking responsibility.

425
00:31:03,180 --> 00:31:06,960
They're taking responsibility for things that not necessarily that they

426
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,780
shouldn't necessarily need to take responsibility for.

427
00:31:09,860 --> 00:31:11,620
They shouldn't take responsibility for.

428
00:31:12,060 --> 00:31:13,420
At the same time,

429
00:31:13,420 --> 00:31:14,420
we have misunderstanding.

430
00:31:15,620 --> 00:31:24,500
Most of our most of the population in the United States has about an eight year old's understanding of their faith.

431
00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:27,080
What is that?

432
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:27,760
What is it?

433
00:31:27,780 --> 00:31:28,660
Where does that take us?

434
00:31:28,700 --> 00:31:30,740
That takes us to basically the Ten Commandments.

435
00:31:30,940 --> 00:31:33,480
OK, so we understand if we follow them, we're good.

436
00:31:33,540 --> 00:31:35,040
If we don't follow them, we're bad.

437
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:37,400
OK, if we break a commandment.

438
00:31:38,420 --> 00:31:40,420
Oh, what do you do?

439
00:31:41,140 --> 00:31:43,740
OK, if you're not, if you if you're not taught.

440
00:31:43,740 --> 00:31:45,980
A path to atonement.

441
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:48,500
How do you find that atonement?

442
00:31:48,540 --> 00:31:49,980
How do you find that forgiveness?

443
00:31:50,820 --> 00:31:52,160
It would be one thing if I said,

444
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:53,360
Chris, I forgive you.

445
00:31:53,700 --> 00:31:58,560
You know, people love to forgive to forgive us for things that they have no place for giving us for,

446
00:31:58,560 --> 00:31:59,520
which is kind of cool.

447
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:00,360
It's kind of nice.

448
00:32:00,780 --> 00:32:09,540
It's well, it's thought it's awful at the same time when you're in war and war is about kill or be killed.

449
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,360
It's not about politics or whatever.

450
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:13,740
They talk.

451
00:32:13,740 --> 00:32:16,380
About in the White House or Congress or whatever.

452
00:32:16,380 --> 00:32:18,720
It's about me and my buddies.

453
00:32:19,020 --> 00:32:20,880
And how are we going to make it through this day?

454
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,660
So it's kill or be killed.

455
00:32:24,660 --> 00:32:29,100
What is the most important thing to God that we're alive to worship God?

456
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,600
OK, so it's our job to stay alive.

457
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:36,660
But then you have the Ten Commandments.

458
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,420
OK, so it says in English, thou shalt not kill.

459
00:32:41,700 --> 00:32:43,700
OK, but it's not what it really says.

460
00:32:43,740 --> 00:32:47,200
If you go back to the Hebrew, it says,

461
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:51,300
that means thou shalt not murder.

462
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,960
So if you look at we all know in jurisprudence,

463
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,500
there's a difference between murder and killing.

464
00:33:00,420 --> 00:33:01,260
OK, there's murder.

465
00:33:01,260 --> 00:33:02,100
There's manslaughter.

466
00:33:02,820 --> 00:33:08,100
Manslaughter is definitely it's a lesser sense because something has happened where you had to take an action.

467
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:10,500
OK, so.

468
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:12,420
What?

469
00:33:12,420 --> 00:33:12,920
You know,

470
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:13,680
the Bible,

471
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:18,240
is telling us and what God is telling us is I know there's a difference.

472
00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:26,760
And sometimes I'm going to send you to war and you're going to have to kill because I need you to be alive to worship me.

473
00:33:28,140 --> 00:33:31,080
And that's going to be that's not murder.

474
00:33:32,180 --> 00:33:36,540
OK, so we've taken that,

475
00:33:37,580 --> 00:33:38,000
you know,

476
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:39,140
the you know,

477
00:33:39,140 --> 00:33:43,640
we've mistranslated and we're not teaching our kids.

478
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:52,140
The difference and we're not preparing our soldiers to go to war spiritually and emotionally.

479
00:33:52,140 --> 00:33:54,140
We're preparing them physically.

480
00:33:54,140 --> 00:33:56,140
We're preparing them intellectually,

481
00:33:56,140 --> 00:34:00,140
but they're getting on the battlefield and they're not prepared spiritually.

482
00:34:00,140 --> 00:34:05,140
So when the inevitable killing happens.

483
00:34:05,140 --> 00:34:07,140
How do they live with it?

484
00:34:07,140 --> 00:34:09,140
And how do we heal that?

485
00:34:09,140 --> 00:34:11,140
And that's what we do at Heroes to Heroes.

486
00:34:11,140 --> 00:34:13,140
We work with healing.

487
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:14,920
That's soul.

488
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:16,840
That's a broken soul.

489
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,880
And people who have veterans in their lives,

490
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:23,240
if your veteran,

491
00:34:23,240 --> 00:34:25,520
their loved one says,

492
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:27,820
I'm not worth it.

493
00:34:27,820 --> 00:34:29,180
If they won't go to church,

494
00:34:29,180 --> 00:34:32,180
Christmas is next week.

495
00:34:32,180 --> 00:34:34,880
OK, I'm tired.

496
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:41,740
I was just on the phone with a vet who says he says December is really tough for him.

497
00:34:41,740 --> 00:34:42,380
But he.

498
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:45,120
He's been on our journey.

499
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:46,740
And he said on Christmas,

500
00:34:46,740 --> 00:34:47,720
he will go to church.

501
00:34:47,720 --> 00:34:49,320
And he said once he gets there,

502
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,640
the tide turns.

503
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:56,420
It's that anticipation from so many years of built in.

504
00:34:56,420 --> 00:34:57,940
Oh, no, I'm terrified.

505
00:34:57,940 --> 00:34:59,480
I have to go to church.

506
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:01,380
Now he knows he can do it.

507
00:35:01,380 --> 00:35:04,080
But he said he still gets that angst.

508
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,280
So, you know, we're talking every day and he's talking to his buddies every day.

509
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,680
And he's he's at least able to tell us.

510
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:12,880
So there's some days where he's like, I'm tired.

511
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:17,720
Some days where he's like, you know, I'm having a rough time, but I know what it is.

512
00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:18,780
He knows what it is.

513
00:35:18,780 --> 00:35:20,780
He's going to get through the holidays.

514
00:35:20,780 --> 00:35:22,480
So.

515
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:33,680
It's taking a look at this and saying, you know what, I'm I'm still a good person and teaching people ways to take action to find forgiveness.

516
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:38,080
You know, there are veterans come home from war.

517
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:42,580
You know, ninety nine point nine nine percent are not going to kill again.

518
00:35:42,580 --> 00:35:44,880
So.

519
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:49,920
There's not the atonement is there just from walking off the battlefield.

520
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:58,720
Should there be any OK, but what we know about what God is looking for, there really is no need for atonement.

521
00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:01,840
But in our heads, we're Western, we're American.

522
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:12,120
We see, you know, there's a lot that goes on there that the American public is not aware of, you know, and it's civilians, it's children.

523
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:18,360
You know, their idea of a child is very young, but a ten year old can be a soldier.

524
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,920
You know, we're not fighting armies, we're fighting.

525
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:27,480
Terrorists, basically, and terrorists don't have any rules of war.

526
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:41,820
So strapping a bomb to a baby is not an unusual thing in that world, but our soldiers have to live with leaving that baby on the ground and then going home and loving their own baby.

527
00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:50,320
So what Heroes to Heroes does is we work with that and we help them find that forgiveness and peace during that journey to Israel.

528
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:55,120
There's one very poignant part where we plant trees.

529
00:36:55,120 --> 00:37:02,820
You know, Jewish National Fund is one of our they're a donor because they love what we do with a lot of the sites.

530
00:37:02,820 --> 00:37:10,800
They've built a 9-11 memorial in Jerusalem with the name of every American killed, everyone killed on the site.

531
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:11,760
So our.

532
00:37:11,820 --> 00:37:13,540
We call them our heroes.

533
00:37:13,540 --> 00:37:35,160
They like to go in and etch the names into paper, the people they know, one of the things we do is plant trees and, you know, it's a kind of a tradition when you go to the Holy Land to plant trees because a tree is planted is the most unselfish thing you can do because you're planting it for the next generation.

534
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:41,220
When you plant a tree from scratch, I'm not talking about going and buying a big tree and you're going to get fruit next year.

535
00:37:41,220 --> 00:37:41,620
But.

536
00:37:41,820 --> 00:37:48,780
When you're planting a sapling, that tree is not going to give you anything in your lifetime.

537
00:37:48,780 --> 00:37:51,420
That tree is for the next generation.

538
00:37:51,420 --> 00:37:53,640
And that's what we do.

539
00:37:53,640 --> 00:38:02,700
We help them plant that tree and trees when they're planted in Israel are planted in the in honor of someone or in memory of someone.

540
00:38:02,700 --> 00:38:04,640
That is a poignant moment.

541
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:08,760
We had a like a young, young man named Stephen.

542
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:11,220
Stephen had four suicide attempts.

543
00:38:11,220 --> 00:38:16,620
His father saw me on a television program and said, I need you to help my son.

544
00:38:16,620 --> 00:38:18,500
I'm going to lose him.

545
00:38:18,500 --> 00:38:22,620
He's not going to make it lives in Arkansas.

546
00:38:22,620 --> 00:38:31,560
Father said, I'm going to drive him all the way to Newark Airport from Arkansas because if I put him in the airport, he's not going to get on the plane.

547
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,200
So Stephen met us in Newark.

548
00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:40,160
Just a sweet young man and never spoke about what happened.

549
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:41,220
He used to go to his therapist.

550
00:38:41,220 --> 00:38:49,540
Every week at the VA and sit there across his arms and just not say anything for an hour.

551
00:38:49,540 --> 00:38:58,500
So we take we take him through, you know, he's on the journey and he's starting to open up a little.

552
00:38:58,500 --> 00:39:10,540
And we went to the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and it's called Yad Vashem and it's a it is probably one of the most intense museums ever.

553
00:39:10,540 --> 00:39:11,200
And.

554
00:39:11,220 --> 00:39:15,480
As you it really tells the story.

555
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,420
And at the end, there's a children's memorial.

556
00:39:19,420 --> 00:39:24,220
There were one point four million children murdered in the Holocaust.

557
00:39:24,220 --> 00:39:28,460
And in this memorial, as you're walking through it, it's totally dark in there.

558
00:39:28,460 --> 00:39:37,220
There are four or five candles and with mirrors, the candles show one point four million lights.

559
00:39:37,220 --> 00:39:40,500
At flames and it is heart wrenching.

560
00:39:40,500 --> 00:39:47,660
And as you're walking through, all the names are being read off of all these children.

561
00:39:47,660 --> 00:39:52,060
And when we got out of there, Stephen broke down.

562
00:39:52,060 --> 00:40:01,620
And he said, when I was in Iraq, there was an insurgent and he was about to kill my buddy and I had to make I had to do something.

563
00:40:01,620 --> 00:40:03,980
I had to take the shot.

564
00:40:03,980 --> 00:40:08,800
And so Stephen takes the shot and then he realizes the child.

565
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:09,660
It was a child.

566
00:40:09,660 --> 00:40:12,480
He was about ten years old.

567
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:21,480
And he said every night that child visits me in my sleep, I can't sleep a full night and then I'm up the rest of the night.

568
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,900
And he said, this is the first time I've been able to tell that story.

569
00:40:25,900 --> 00:40:28,520
And then everyone gave him a hug.

570
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:35,020
And other guys were saying, you know, something like that happened to me and they started relating to him.

571
00:40:35,020 --> 00:40:37,360
And.

572
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,660
The next day they went to Bethlehem.

573
00:40:39,660 --> 00:40:42,480
With a pastor.

574
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:46,820
And for the first time, Stephen was able to pray.

575
00:40:46,820 --> 00:40:49,680
And he and the pastor prayed together.

576
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:54,760
And the following day we were tree planting trees.

577
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:59,380
And Stephen planted his tree in memory of that.

578
00:40:59,380 --> 00:41:01,680
Boy.

579
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:04,480
After he planted the tree, he said a few prayers.

580
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:06,800
We all kind of gathered around the tree.

581
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:09,480
And one thing everyone said was.

582
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,800
You know, Stephen, you showed that boy more respect.

583
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:23,300
That his family, his community, whoever touched his life for those ten years, you have just shown him more respect than anyone else.

584
00:41:23,300 --> 00:41:28,260
And that night, Stephen slept the first time, the full night.

585
00:41:28,260 --> 00:41:35,080
Now he's working at a vitamin store and he's helping people stay healthy, including me.

586
00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:39,180
He has to make sure I'm doing my workout and getting my vitamins.

587
00:41:39,180 --> 00:41:40,180
He has to make sure I'm doing my workout and getting my vitamins.

588
00:41:40,180 --> 00:41:41,180
So it totally changed his life.

589
00:41:41,180 --> 00:41:42,180
Just getting to that point and finding, realizing.

590
00:41:42,180 --> 00:41:43,180
That he's a good person.

591
00:41:43,180 --> 00:41:44,180
And he's not a murderer.

592
00:41:44,180 --> 00:41:45,180
And it wasn't.

593
00:41:45,180 --> 00:41:46,180
And he also said to us when he got out of there.

594
00:41:46,180 --> 00:41:47,180
One thing I realized in that museum.

595
00:41:47,180 --> 00:41:48,180
Is I'm not a murderer.

596
00:41:48,180 --> 00:41:49,180
And he, you know, he saw the Nazis were murderers.

597
00:41:49,180 --> 00:41:50,180
And I think a lot of our soldiers come home with that feeling.

598
00:41:50,180 --> 00:41:51,180
That, you know, I've murdered.

599
00:41:51,180 --> 00:41:52,180
I've killed.

600
00:42:06,180 --> 00:42:07,180
I've killed a lot of our soldiers.

601
00:42:07,180 --> 00:42:08,180
Come home with that feeling.

602
00:42:08,180 --> 00:42:12,020
That, you know, I've murdered I've done all of these bad things.

603
00:42:12,020 --> 00:42:13,300
How can I be forgiven.

604
00:42:13,300 --> 00:42:14,920
Why should I have a family?

605
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:17,500
Why should I have.

606
00:42:17,500 --> 00:42:19,220
Children.

607
00:42:19,220 --> 00:42:21,240
Why should I have anything good in life.

608
00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:26,780
So they start on this path of self-destruction and I was on that path for different reasons.

609
00:42:26,780 --> 00:42:29,160
But we have a suicide rate.

610
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:31,700
That won't budge we're looking at 17.

611
00:42:31,700 --> 00:42:33,460
I guess now it went up to 18.

612
00:42:33,460 --> 00:42:34,160
Again,

613
00:42:34,180 --> 00:42:37,100
We have thousands of organizations working on this,

614
00:42:37,180 --> 00:42:39,300
but we're not talking about healing the soul.

615
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:41,840
And I think faith is so important

616
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:44,280
and it's important to our children.

617
00:42:45,420 --> 00:42:50,560
Our country is in a mess socially and emotionally.

618
00:42:51,580 --> 00:42:53,620
We've pulled everything.

619
00:42:53,780 --> 00:42:56,760
And psychologically, our kids are on drugs.

620
00:42:56,980 --> 00:42:58,380
At five and six years old,

621
00:42:58,380 --> 00:43:01,480
there was an eight-year-old kid who committed suicide.

622
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,780
I mean, when we were eight,

623
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:07,180
we were just trying to get a quarter to go to 7-Eleven

624
00:43:07,180 --> 00:43:08,980
and buy 25 pieces of candy.

625
00:43:10,140 --> 00:43:12,920
You know, what are we doing to our kids?

626
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:14,520
But we've pulled out everything.

627
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,500
We've pulled the rug out from under them.

628
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:19,640
And I think it's affecting our soldiers.

629
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,360
It's affecting our schools.

630
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:23,960
We have kids protesting on schools.

631
00:43:24,140 --> 00:43:25,040
They're pro-terror.

632
00:43:25,580 --> 00:43:29,460
We have taken the values and what's important in life

633
00:43:29,460 --> 00:43:30,860
away from our children.

634
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,120
And we're taking it and we're seeing it in our veterans.

635
00:43:34,380 --> 00:43:37,780
They're not able to get healthy.

636
00:43:38,820 --> 00:43:40,780
And the adults in the room

637
00:43:40,780 --> 00:43:43,280
aren't able to see through the garbage

638
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,280
and say, this is what we've raised.

639
00:43:46,420 --> 00:43:48,420
This is what we think we want.

640
00:43:49,220 --> 00:43:51,960
You know, I think the population has kind of turned that corner

641
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,560
and people are saying, wait a minute, this isn't working.

642
00:43:56,500 --> 00:43:58,940
But some adults in power

643
00:43:58,940 --> 00:44:01,040
and our intellectuals,

644
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:03,580
aren't getting the message,

645
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:06,900
aren't understanding that this is really,

646
00:44:07,020 --> 00:44:08,500
what we've done is very harmful.

647
00:44:09,240 --> 00:44:11,600
And it's affecting everyone.

648
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:13,440
And especially our veterans.

649
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:15,480
Well, I will say, especially our veterans

650
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:16,620
and especially our children.

651
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:21,580
What can individuals do to advocate the needs

652
00:44:21,580 --> 00:44:22,900
of veterans facing moral injury?

653
00:44:24,580 --> 00:44:25,780
Let people know.

654
00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:28,120
I mean, recognize that it's real.

655
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:30,920
I think our clergy has to,

656
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,880
we have to find ways to train our clergy in this.

657
00:44:35,620 --> 00:44:37,680
I think the more we know as individuals

658
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:39,420
and the more we talk about,

659
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:43,820
you know, these soul crushing injuries,

660
00:44:44,300 --> 00:44:47,400
I think the more it will get better.

661
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:48,960
People will have to look at it.

662
00:44:49,060 --> 00:44:51,120
The VA won't touch a program like mine.

663
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,660
You know, they should, but they won't.

664
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:57,260
So, but having people,

665
00:44:57,400 --> 00:44:59,780
the more people who are aware of moral injury,

666
00:44:59,780 --> 00:45:01,240
the better it will be,

667
00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:06,820
for our veterans. But I think we have to start talking about faith and the faith connection.

668
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:16,360
And what people can do is ask the tough questions. Have you been to church? How do you feel about it?

669
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:22,280
Where is God in your life? Those are the tough questions that we've got to ask. We've got to

670
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:29,500
ask our children, what do you think God thinks of you? That's a question I've struggled with.

671
00:45:29,500 --> 00:45:35,560
And that's one of the questions that Dr. Currier asks the vets starting our program, our heroes.

672
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:43,260
About 70, 80% will say, God wishes I were dead. That's a question we've got to look at. We've got

673
00:45:43,260 --> 00:45:49,500
to ask our children, but we've got to ask our veterans. PTSD programs aren't going to help you

674
00:45:49,500 --> 00:45:54,080
if they're not healing your soul. If you're feeling this tremendous guilt, if you're feeling a lot of

675
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:58,540
shame for what you did, you could talk about it and talk about it, but you've got to get that

676
00:45:59,500 --> 00:46:04,180
out of your head. You've got to find a way to atone and feel as if you atoned and feel as if you

677
00:46:04,180 --> 00:46:08,980
can have that connection. And that's one of the reasons we take them to Israel, to the Holy Land,

678
00:46:09,060 --> 00:46:13,060
because that's the way to get a physical connection. You're talking about men of the

679
00:46:13,060 --> 00:46:19,080
earth. They're soldiers. You've got to bring the earth and the spirit together and the sky

680
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:23,560
together. You've got to bring heaven and earth together to help them heal and bringing them to

681
00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:29,320
Israel where they can breathe that air and physically walk that land and touch that

682
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:29,480
water. And that's one of the reasons we take them to Israel to the Holy Land. And that's one of the

683
00:46:29,500 --> 00:46:29,520
reasons we take them to Israel to the Holy Land. And that's one of the reasons we take them to Israel to

684
00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:40,240
get baptized in the Jordan River, go to Bethlehem, touch the star, just be there physically so you

685
00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:47,940
can be there emotionally. I think we need to start asking those questions. Right now, I guess it's

686
00:46:47,940 --> 00:46:53,320
eight days until Christmas. Now's the time to say, what's going on with you for Christmas?

687
00:46:53,780 --> 00:46:59,360
Do you have a vet in your life? What's going on? How do you feel? How's your relationship with God?

688
00:46:59,500 --> 00:47:02,100
Does your relationship with God allow you to walk into church?

689
00:47:04,180 --> 00:47:07,740
And when we ask those questions, I think we're going to hear some tough answers.

690
00:47:08,220 --> 00:47:13,240
And if you hear the toughest answers, please have them call us. And we will get someone on the phone

691
00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:19,300
with them right away to talk about the tough stuff. And, you know, I have, we have chaplains and we

692
00:47:19,300 --> 00:47:26,000
actually use, we have rabbi who works with us. And why we use a rabbi is because the rabbi is

693
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:29,480
fine with whatever people do. And we have a rabbi who works with us. And we have a rabbi who works

694
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:38,020
there's no, you know, I'm Catholic. So I want you to be Catholic or you should be. And if a Catholic

695
00:47:38,020 --> 00:47:45,700
veteran is having trouble, you know, ideally we want him to be where his family is. And usually

696
00:47:45,700 --> 00:47:51,060
90% of the time, that's where they go. You know, if they come to us and they're struggling with

697
00:47:51,060 --> 00:47:57,280
Catholicism by the end, they're back in Catholicism. So with, we have them speak to a rabbi because

698
00:47:57,280 --> 00:47:59,000
there's no pretense.

699
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:04,680
And they feel more comfortable. They've actually asked us to do that. Because that way they can,

700
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:09,980
they can learn about atonement. They can learn about some of the basics. They can learn about the,

701
00:48:10,100 --> 00:48:16,420
the Hebrew Bible, which is the basis for, that's what Jesus did. He was preaching the Hebrew Bible.

702
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:22,560
So what did Jesus do? What was he doing? What was Sabbath like to him? What was his life like

703
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:27,720
every day? And that's what they learn. And that's what they can help. They can start to emulate.

704
00:48:27,720 --> 00:48:33,580
They can start to understand their faith within its con within a context. You know, the history,

705
00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:38,580
what was, why was he saying what he was saying? Why was he, why was he going to Bethlehem?

706
00:48:38,900 --> 00:48:44,060
Why was he going to Jerusalem? What was he doing there? They start to understand that

707
00:48:44,060 --> 00:48:50,860
and it pulls it all together. It makes it real. And it helps bring that path to atonement and

708
00:48:50,860 --> 00:48:56,900
that relationship. All of a sudden, God, isn't so distant. God, isn't too far away. We now understand

709
00:48:57,720 --> 00:49:05,020
what's expected of us. And so when people can just, when you have someone in your life, those are

710
00:49:05,020 --> 00:49:09,240
the, ask those questions. There's a child in your life who's struggling, especially a teen. What's

711
00:49:09,240 --> 00:49:16,300
going on with you and God? Where are you? One of the things we, we have, one of the assignments,

712
00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:20,880
we have a lot of written assignments. Heroes to Heroes is not an easy program to go through. It

713
00:49:20,880 --> 00:49:26,180
takes a lot of commitment. There are two written assignments every month. In Israel, there were

714
00:49:26,180 --> 00:49:27,700
about six written assignments. There are two written assignments every month. There are two

715
00:49:27,720 --> 00:49:34,400
written assignments. One of the assignments is to write a letter to God. And they can take it any

716
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:40,120
way they want. We've actually published the book. And I know you were going to ask about that,

717
00:49:40,220 --> 00:49:47,140
but it's called Letters to God. And a group of, one of our teams who went last May, they went

718
00:49:47,140 --> 00:49:56,080
during the war in Israel. And these are their letters. And they're published, it's available

719
00:49:57,720 --> 00:50:02,320
online. It's called Letters to God, and just Letters to God, Heroes to Heroes, and you'll find

720
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:12,700
it. And it, in it, our participants are talking about the real tough stuff, what they're going

721
00:50:12,700 --> 00:50:18,840
through, why it's tough to have that relationship to God, what's going on, some of the conflicts.

722
00:50:19,380 --> 00:50:24,760
And, you know, they put their letters in with a photo, with one of their favorite photos. And,

723
00:50:26,340 --> 00:50:27,520
you know, it has,

724
00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:34,960
helps unburden, and it helps also make things clear. And I would suggest people write that

725
00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:40,640
letter. You know, I know I've mentioned it earlier, but write that letter. It's tough. I have a

726
00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:48,960
continuous letter that I'm actually going to leave to my children. Because it, the letter talks a lot

727
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:54,220
about my early life and things that went with their, wrong with their dad, and things that went

728
00:50:54,220 --> 00:50:56,420
right with their stepfather.

729
00:50:57,720 --> 00:51:05,820
But it talks about the difference, and it talks about giving, and love, and life, and caring for

730
00:51:05,820 --> 00:51:12,300
others. Yet, and also keeping yourself in the mix. Caring, because those of us who take care of other

731
00:51:12,300 --> 00:51:16,940
people, we tend to forget about taking care of ourselves, and then we end up with all kinds of

732
00:51:16,940 --> 00:51:24,380
stuff. But, you know, so that's something I'm learning better, and my husband is very,

733
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:27,400
he's very good at reminding me to take care of myself.

734
00:51:27,720 --> 00:51:32,480
You know, but to write, I'm writing that letter, that letter, I think it's already like 18 or 20

735
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:39,760
pages of just, this is who I am, this is what I'm about. And if all the questions that they

736
00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:46,880
didn't want to ask, or they were afraid to ask, will be answered, either by me personally,

737
00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:52,600
or in this letter. And I, and it's also a way for me to understand where I am with God every day.

738
00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:57,700
And every time I pick up that letter is usually, God is very close to me, or God is very close to

739
00:51:57,720 --> 00:52:01,620
me, or far away from me. And how do I keep God close to me? So.

740
00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:07,280
Judy, we've got about 90 seconds left. If people want to learn more or get involved,

741
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:09,020
where can they find Heroes to Heroes Foundation?

742
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:20,320
You can find it online at heroes2heroes.org. That's H-E-R-O-E-S-T-O-H-E-R-O-E-S.org.

743
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:26,200
And please reach out. You can reach out to me directly at Judy, J-U-D-Y,

744
00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:27,520
at heroes2heroes.org.

745
00:52:27,720 --> 00:52:36,300
And we want to hear from you. Veterans can apply online. If they have any questions,

746
00:52:36,700 --> 00:52:41,880
just send an email to either me or to info at heroes2heroes.org.

747
00:52:42,540 --> 00:52:51,100
We will be back. We will get back to you within 24 or 48 hours. And Christmas Day, we do answer.

748
00:52:51,100 --> 00:52:57,700
So if you're having a rough day, we're there. And there's always someone around,

749
00:52:57,720 --> 00:53:04,620
24 or 7. We have Israeli vets that take part in the program. So at 3 o'clock in the morning here,

750
00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:11,060
there's someone online at 10 a.m. over there. So we have. Thank you. But please, during this time,

751
00:53:11,660 --> 00:53:16,480
please, let's protect our veterans. If you have any challenges, fears, you can even

752
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:20,060
anonymously send us information and we will reach out.

753
00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:25,140
Judy, Isaacson, Elias, thank you so much for being with us today. I really appreciate your time. And

754
00:53:25,140 --> 00:53:27,700
I really, really appreciate the work that you do. So thank you. And God bless you.

755
00:53:27,720 --> 00:53:33,980
Thank you so much, Chris. And Merry Christmas. Have a happy, healthy New Year.

756
00:53:34,460 --> 00:53:38,660
Thank you. I'm Chris Meek. We're out of time. This is our last live show of 2024. I cannot

757
00:53:38,660 --> 00:53:42,900
believe I'm saying that. So happy holidays to everybody. Until then, we'll see you in 2025.

758
00:53:43,680 --> 00:53:46,140
Stay safe and keep taking your next steps forward.

759
00:53:50,900 --> 00:53:56,740
Thanks for tuning in to Next Steps Forward. Be sure to join Chris Meek for another great show

760
00:53:56,740 --> 00:53:57,620
next Tuesday.

761
00:53:57,720 --> 00:54:03,560
at 10 a.m. Pacific Time and 1 p.m. Eastern Time on the Voice America Empowerment Channel.

762
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:07,100
This week, make things happen in your life.