Photo/Illutration The cover of the book “Boys in Zinc” by Svetlana Alexievich translated in Japanese (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

I saw a play titled “The Long Way Home” by Daniel Keene eight years ago in Sydney.

The play is about physically or emotionally traumatized Australian veterans of the Afghan and Iraq wars struggling to readjust to everyday life.

Of the cast of 17, 13 were real-life former soldiers.

The production was made possible by the Australian Defense Force’s program to help veterans heal by releasing their raw feelings through acting. The script was based on their personal experiences.

The protagonist suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Unable to sleep at night, he would start cleaning his entire home in the early morning hours. His wife helplessly watches him as he wrestles with his hallucinations.

I was completely absorbed by the cast’s all-too-believable acting. But watching their tear-streaked faces as they took a curtain call, as if they’d just overcome something, I was struck by the awareness that what I’d seen was not a “play” but a realistic re-enactment of what the veterans had lived through.

Earlier this month, more than a dozen people died in a nightclub fire in central Russia. A man shot a flare gun and then the blaze spread throughout the building, according to local reports.

The suspect, arrested for alleged manslaughter, is reportedly a 23-year-old veteran who was injured in Ukraine. Further details have yet to be released, but I wonder if this case has something to do with PTSD.

In “Boys in Zinc,” Belarusian investigative journalist Svetlana Alexievich, who interviewed former Soviet veterans of the Afghan war, cites a vet who mocks himself as he watches the TV news. He says to the effect, “Nobody needs any of us. Life goes on in our country as usual.” His is a cry of loneliness.

It has been almost nine months since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. War destroys all hearts. No matter how far we are from the battlefield, we must make it stop, no matter how difficult that may be.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 22

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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