Veterans Administration psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Shay has won a MacArthur genius award for his work with returning soldiers in a Boston outpatient clinic. Initially treating Vietnam vets, and now those from Iraq, Shay noticed similarities to struggles in Homer's Iliad and The Odyssey. Soon these classic tales became a staple in his work, and soldiers appreciated "that they're part of a long historical context — that they are not personally deficient for having become injured in war." At one point Homer's hero Odysseus -- a “seasoned man of war” -- struggles because a complacent society, which was engaged in domestic sport, does not understand the costs of war. Shay tells NPR’s Morning Edition a similar disjunction exists today.
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by Phyllis Vine
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