We had gotten home late that night. All of us sweaty, bloody, and dirty.

We
couldnt even tell that we were tired because of all of the drugs. It was just a normal
day for us. We laughed and boasted about how many rebels we had killed. When it
was about 2:00 AM I decided to go to bed. As I walked toward my blue tarped tent I
heard some small scuttling inside. I immediately crouched lower to the ground and
peeked inside, my AK47 in hand. When I looked inside I saw a forest rodent looking
for some food. Instead he had found my stash of Brown-Brown (Cocaine and
Gunpowder)! I swiftly stabbed him with my bayonet angrily, hoping that I could still
salvage enough to be used that night. Luckily I had caught him before he got too
far. So I smoked some marijuana, sniffed some Brown-Brown and went to bed.
When I woke up it was sunny outside. I felt exhausted as if I hadnt slept at
all. So I sniffed some cocaine and got up. When I got outside I was surprised to see
that no one was there. Holding my gun close I began to look around, inside other
tents, and inside the other buildings. I checked were we were keeping the projector
to find Rambo still running. This was beginning to freak me out, I had just found this
new family and didnt want to lose it like I had lost my own. Then I heard someone
call for help. They were in the building where we stored our stashes of drugs and
weapons. I quickly ran over to the shed and peeked inside carefully just in case of a
rebel soldier hiding trying to trick me. I didnt feel safe without my friends covering
my back. Once I had eyes on the man crying out I immediately felt better knowing
he was wearing his green band around his helmet that told me he was on my side.
Fearing it was one of my friends I approached him and asked if he was alright. No
response. I asked again. Still no response, I ran to him and turned his head toward
me. It was just another ally soldier from the war. I looked him over and saw how
bloodshot his eyes were. He had been doing way too much Brown-Brown and

marijuana. Then I noticed the blood spilling out of his side. He wasnt going to make
it. So I dragged him outside to the outskirts of the jungle and put him out of his
misery.
I figured that someone would come back here to find me so I busied myself
with drugs and cleaning my weapon. When I had exhausted my personal supply I
went to the main stash room again. I heard a slight shuffle inside the building again.
I crouched low and peeked inside. No one was visible so I looked around the door.
Sitting there was a large pile of brown-brown, ammunition, and marijuana. Feeling
pleased with myself I reached out for a blunt when it all started melting. Confused I
jumped back and stared with my gun pointed at the pile. As it melted and blended
the color of all the drugs and ammunition it became darker until it had a color as
that of my own. Then it began to mold into the shape of a man! I was too stunned to
do anything so I just stood there and stared. When it was done molding I was
shocked to see my father. Except he just stood there with a blank stare, gazing at
the walls of the building. Suddenly the rest of the piles in the room started to go
through a very similar changes. When they were all done I saw my family
surrounding me. They started to ask me questions. Why didnt you save us? Why
didnt you come back for us? Why didnt you try harder? Who do you think you are
living, while we have to lay here dead and unburied? As their voices rung in my
head they began to close in on me. I began to worry. They looked like my family but
their blank stares told me that they were not my family. They began to spill blood
from wounds that hadnt been there a moment ago. They began to paint me with
the blood as I struggled to break free from this trap they had laid for me. I began
firing my weapon at these demons, they didnt seem to notice or care they just kept

wiping their blood all over my body. Eventually they began to fill up the room with
their blood. I didnt know what to do, I was drowning in the blood of my loved ones.
I woke up finding myself in the ammunitions room wondering how I had
gotten there. The door opened and I aimed my gun, scared that it would be one of
my demonic family members. Luckily it was one of my friends. He asked me if I was
ok, he had heard screaming. I didnt reply, but instead left him standing there in the
room alone. I hurried back to my tent where I snuffed brow-brown and smoked
marijuana until I felt better. Soon I had forgotten the dream only to be remembered
after the war.
Benjamin Ross
Mr. Ausman
Lit. Comp. 10
2/18/16
Problem/Solution Research.
No one could tell you the number of people who have had to deal with some
traumatic experience that led to living with grief. Just like you will probably never
get over the grief you could experience when someone dies. There is often no way
to fully recover from an experience like a loved one dying, or taking the life away
from someone, no matter how horrible they were you were the one who ended their
potential and you have to live with it. However there are ways that we can deal with
and maybe even become ok with the loss or the accident.
In the world right now there are children being taken advantage of
everywhere, and there are wars being fought just for the sake of war. People who

are unsatisfied with the way that things are and that makes the people in power
angry. It just doesnt end, and it never will. There will never be that perfect society
where everyone is happy all the time. However there is hope in this world, because
we have begun to cope with all the horrors and now we have ways to help. We have
analyzed and identified responses to Trauma and the 5 most common stages of
grief. Not only do you know what to expect but you can even know how to deal with
the everyday occurrence this life brings upon us.
Trauma is something that will probably lead you into grief. Some may even
call them friends or business associates. Because Trauma leads to grief.
However, they are not the same thing. They may share many of the same
characteristics, but they are different. Trauma can cause you many physical,
psychological, and emotional effects. It gives you many symptoms that will be
attempting to change the way you act, or who you are, to run away from the shock
you went through. You might get headaches, night terrors, the urge to do drugs, or
you may want to eat more. There are more symptoms but those are the basics for
your physical symptoms. There may be emotional changes. Where you dont want
to go where it happened, or you keep seeing it in your dreams, you get angry at
whoever did the deed and want revenge. You will feel helpless and will seek control.
You may never get that back. Many more, but they are gone and you have to find
another way.
Luckily for us there are many ways for us to deal with grief and to get through
the tough times it can cause. Some of these may seem obvious, while others seem
more obscure. Ill be naming 7. The first of which is to cry. This seems way to obvious
but there is a reason that we cry naturally when we experience a loss. Second would
be hard exercise or relaxing exercise. Hard exercise can help get rid of your anger

through hard work. While the relaxing exercise, like yoga, can just help let go of
your anger. Third would be to create a support system, or to reach out to people
and talk about it. Its good to get things off your chest, and they can give you
comfort. Fourth is to become passionate about something or to create music or
artwork. They can help you to express your feelings without actually having to say
something. Fifth is humor. Try to laugh about things, buy a joke book, and watch
some standup comedy. Laughing releases endorphins which make you happier.
Sixth would be to hug the people and pets that you love. It can give you a feeling of
security, and happiness. Finally you might want to write about your experience. In
detail, whether its for you to read, or if you want to share it like Ishmael Beah did in
his book a long way gone. He has actually started another book about people going
back to Sierra Leone and their hometowns to find its all ravished. Its another way
to get your feelings out.
Starting with Grief. According to (http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/)
there are 5 basic stages. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
Now the obvious goal is to get to acceptance, but it isnt easy to just say Im totally
fine with my dead friend or yea I just killed another one. That would make you
inhuman. It just doesnt work that way. Now you might be able to skip one or two of
the stages. Or you may have to go through them all until the day you die. You just
never can tell. So Ill walk you through them real quick.
Denial is the first stage of grief. Denial literally means the disbelief in the
existence or reality of a thing (http://dictionary.reference.com/). This means that
your body will begin to deny the simple truth of what has happened. Anger is the
second stage. Anger is something everybody has had to deal with. Except it will not
be the same anger you feel when your driving behind a slow person on the highway.

This is something that burns much hotter and is necessary to get through the loss.
Bargaining is when we ask God or some other deity to give us a second chance. We
tell them we will give our lives to them if they would only fix the situation.
Depression is where everything that happens now is meaningless and doesnt
matter because of that event. Its a natural occurrence that should happen. If it
didnt happen when someone you loved died it wouldnt be natural. The final stage
is Acceptance. This is the happyish ending that we want. Where we can forgive
them for leaving us, let go of our anger, believe that they are gone, and wont try to
get them back.
So trauma can lead to grief. They both have their own effects on our lives and
they can both make us into better people when we come out of them. While there
can be very rough patches to our lives, like the loss of a loved one, we can get
through them and find new meanings in our lives. We can help each other get
through the tough times and we can see how strong weve become through these
tough times. Because the world isnt going to get any nicer, and we arent going to
stop making mistakes. So why dont you go get help, pull yourself out of your
depression, break free of griefs holds on your life and begin living again.