Veterans, Choose the Line That Lifts • The Havok Journal | Military & Veteran News, Commentary, Culture

Sometimes the simplest of things can have the deepest meanings.

I was scrolling through Facebook last week when I came across a meme titled “The Lines of Life.” the simple stick-figure image featured five doors indicating different things that people could do to, or with, each other. They range from “To criticize” to “To help.” Each door features one or more figures waiting to get in. The “To criticize” door has the longest line of people waiting to get in. “To help” features a single person.

I thought that the meme was an excellent example of human nature, even in (and perhaps especially in) the veteran community. So many of us are quick to throw stones in other people’s direction, through criticism or gossip, but few are willing to get involved, to offer words of encouragement, or to take that extra step and actually help someone in need.

The Lines of Life: A Visual Reflection on Human Behavior

In examining “The Lines of Life” meme, a powerful truth unfolds, one that resonates deeply with our everyday human interactions. The stick figures in line behind the different doors offer more than just visual irony—they deliver a compelling social commentary. Each door represents a choice, a behavior, or an attitude, and the length of the line reveals how many gravitate toward it. The result is a mirror to our societal tendencies.

The Doors We Choose

Each labeled door—To criticize, To gossip, To get involved, To encourage, To help—symbolizes a common mode of interaction. But what is striking is not the categories themselves, but the distribution of people:

To Criticize and To Gossip boast the longest lines.
To Get Involved sees fewer, though not absent, participants.
To Encourage is sparsely attended.
To Help stands almost lonely.

This progression is not just about numbers, but about the weight of responsibility and the effort each action requires.

Why We Crowd the Easy Lines

Criticism and gossip require little of us—no commitment, no action, and often no accountability. These behaviors offer a false sense of superiority or inclusion without the need to contribute meaningfully. They are reactive, not constructive. Their popularity in the image reflects how easy it is to fall into these patterns, especially in digital spaces where anonymity and immediacy intensify them.

The Silent Strength of the Shorter Lines

Fewer choose To Encourage or To Help, not because these actions are unimportant, but because they demand emotional labor and vulnerability. Offering encouragement requires awareness, empathy, and presence. Helping demands time, resources, and often discomfort. Yet these are the doors that build community, inspire change, and strengthen bonds.

Even To Get Involved, a middling line, illustrates how people may desire positive impact but often stop short of action due to fear, apathy, or inertia.

A Mirror and a Call

This image is more than social commentary—it is an invitation. It challenges us to examine the lines we frequent in our own lives. Are we amplifying negativity, or nurturing possibility? Are we quick to speak, or quick to show up?

In every situation, we stand before these metaphorical doors. And every day, we choose which one to walk through.

Final Thought: Choose the Empty Line

The most meaningful lines are often the shortest not because they lack value, but because they require courage. So the next time you have the opportunity, choose to help. Choose to encourage. Step into the line less crowded—it may just be the one that changes everything.

When veterans return home, they bring with them a wealth of experience forged in sacrifice, teamwork, resilience, and service. But reintegration into civilian life often brings new battles—many unseen and unacknowledged. In this moment, society at large—and veterans themselves—stand before what the image “The Lines of Life” so powerfully depicts: a choice of which line to join.

The Symbolism of the Lines

In this image, each door is marked not by labels of status or power, but by intent:

To Criticize
To Gossip
To Get Involved
To Encourage
To Help

The longest lines crowd the doors of criticism and gossip. The lines for encouragement and help? Nearly empty. It’s a reflection of where we often find comfort—reacting instead of engaging, spectating instead of serving.

For veterans, this imagery is especially poignant. They’ve stood in real lines—lines to deploy, to return, to heal. The question now is: which line will they choose in civilian life—and which lines will society offer them?

Veterans: From the Front Lines to the Helping Lines

Veterans are uniquely equipped to take their place at the doors marked To Get Involved, To Encourage, and To Help. Why?

Because they’ve:

Carried burdens greater than their own.
Made decisions under pressure.
Served causes bigger than themselves.
Lived in communities where one person’s pain affected everyone.

In a civilian world often obsessed with tearing down rather than building up, veterans can be the standard-bearers of integrity and impact. Not only can they lead by example—they can redefine what leadership looks like off the battlefield.

When Veterans Are the Ones Hurt

But there’s another side to this.

Too often, when veterans step into civilian life, they find themselves not helped or encouraged, but criticized, pitied, or ignored. They may face misunderstanding, unemployment, or isolation. Society, instead of lining up to help them, may unwittingly join the line that hurts—by inaction, indifference, or judgment.

The call, then, is twofold:

To veterans: Choose the harder lines. Get involved. Help. Encourage. Your leadership is needed not just in crisis, but in community.
To society: Examine which line you’re in. Are you lifting veterans up, or reinforcing their marginalization?

A New Mission for All

Helping isn’t always glamorous. Encouragement rarely goes viral. But these are the trenches of everyday life where the real healing and rebuilding happen. Veterans know what it means to have someone’s back. They know the power of showing up.

Let’s all take a moment and ask:

Am I lining up to help, or to hurt?

The answer may determine more than we know—not just for veterans, but for the moral direction of our communities.

Final Thought

Service doesn’t end with a DD-214. It continues in the choices made every day—especially the quiet ones. And just like in war, the smallest acts of courage, compassion, or presence can turn the tide.

So step forward. Into the shorter line. The quieter door. The harder mission.

Veterans, and those who care about them, are needed there most.

Charles Faint served over 27 years in the US Army, which included seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with various Special Operations Forces units and two stints as an instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also completed operational tours in Egypt, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea and earned a Doctor of Business Administration from Temple University as well as a Master of Arts in International Relations from Yale University. He is the owner of The Havok Journal, and the views expressed herein are his own and do not reflect those of the US Government or any other person or entity.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.

Buy Me A Coffee

The Havok Journal seeks to serve as a voice of the Veteran and First Responder communities through a focus on current affairs and articles of interest to the public in general, and the veteran community in particular. We strive to offer timely, current, and informative content, with the occasional piece focused on entertainment. We are continually expanding and striving to improve the readers’ experience.

Buy Me A Coffee