Rain fell on the flags that lined glistening Route 6A on Cape Cod yesterday. I went to no parades, thanked no one for their service. Because I’m like most of the Americans veteran and journalist Elliott Woods describes in his TEDx talk, “Ever After: Finding Fulfillment in the Aftermath of War,” a title that doesn’t even begin to capture the power of his message. Only one in 75 Americans have any direct connection to the conflicts that have been unfolding for a generation in the Middle East. Even that number is probably wildly conservative. Elliott served. He returned home. And he became a journalist to return overseas again and again to document the lives of soldiers and the people who live in the countries where the wars play out, far far from the glistening roads of Cape Cod, or Kansas, or California. [Read more…]