THE 2000 YARD STARE!

THE 2000 YARD STARE!

The phrase was popularized after Life magazine published the painting Marines Call It That 2,000 Yard Stare by World War II artist and correspondent Tom Lea, although the painting was not referred to with that title in the 1945 magazine article. The painting, a 1944 portrait of a Marine at the Battle of Peleliu, is now held by the United States Army Center of Military History, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.  About the real-life Marine who was his subject, Lea said: “He left the States 31 months ago. He was wounded in his first campaign. He has had tropical diseases. He half-sleeps at night and gouges Japs out of holes all day. Two-thirds of his company has been killed or wounded. He will return to attack this morning. How much can a human being endure?”

          I’ve seen it as a police chaplain at the site of auto accidents. The sudden and cataclysmic change in circumstances have left the victims dazed and amazed. I’ve seen it in the counseling room when the story being told is so painful it has been reduced to a list of horrible emotionless facts. I’ve seen it in the hospital waiting room when the doctor walks in wearing the 2000 yard stare! He has news and it is not good.

                Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless and vulnerable in a dangerous world. You can see it on the faces of those brave souls who have come through a series of challenging circumstances. They have suffered great loss even though they have fought bravely and conducted themselves righteously. They can’t believe what has happened and they do not know what to do.  

          We cry out to God from the depths of our pain and the impossibility of our circumstances. We relinquish control to a superior intellect and force. We cry out for rescue and it comes from on high.

Ps 130

130 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord .

2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

3 If thou, Lord , shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord , my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

7 Let Israel hope in the Lord : for with the Lord  there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Dear Lord, today I pray for those whose circumstances are so unbelievable and so impossible that YOU are the only answer. Answer and relieve them speedily. AMEN