Kelsi Sheren: War, Artillery, PTSD, and Love | Lex Fridman Podcast #230

The following is a conversation with Kelsey Sherron, Canadian Forces veteran, artillery gunner, who served in Afghanistan at 18 years old and came home with severe PTSD. She went on to found Brass and Unity, which creates unique jewelry, large part of the proceeds from which go to help rehabilitate the lives, limbs, and mental health of veterans and first responders. She has a big personality, big heart, and an intense passion for life. So when our paths happened to cross, I knew we needed to talk. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description, and now here's my conversation with Kelsey Sherron. You mentioned that studying history had a big impact on you, and that your grandfather was a World War II vet. So people that have gone through World War II, in my family too, they don't seem to talk about it much. Like, the worse the tragedy, the less they talk about it.

I mean, that's understandable. I can respect that. But I don't think people fully understood the value in human stories over, over time, and sharing that. That certain civilizations don't have written language. The value in that being passed down is, is extraordinary, but we didn't really have that with the World War II vets, it seems like.

Well, th- they kind of want to protect you from the pain. Like, my, my grandfa- my grandmother went through Holodomor, which is the Ukrainian starvation of millions of people, and then obviously, uh, went through World War II with the Nazi occupation, and, uh, same on the grandfather's side, who, uh, uh, on my dad's side, grandfather fought in World War II. And they seemed to not want to talk about those experiences to protect you from the suffering, to protect you from the evil that they've experienced. Which is, um, sad because the lessons from that history are not then propagated through you. And also, there's something about the strength you carry with you knowing that that's in your blood, those great heroes are in your blood, and that suffering, overcoming that suffering is in your blood.

I would argue that's exactly correct. If you, if you have someone you know that comes from your lineage that has done something super gnarly, that's just been a badass in, in so many different ways, you wanna know about that person. You have that person's blood in you. That's important to acknowledge. And when that isn't shared, I feel like it's just a detriment to that individual.

What do you make of World War II in terms of history? Do you think about, uh, those kinds of wars where, uh, two times more civilians died than the number of, um, military personnel? So most of the war is basically just the death of civilians and the invasion of homes, the burning of homes, the bombing of homes, all of that.

World War II for me, I find that was the first experience where I became just obsessed with history. World War II really did it for me. Um, I'm not sure if it's because of the dramatization of film and, and TV and the way that our generation has looked at it, but for me, it was more than that. I felt a deep connection to it, and I still can't figure out why. Like a pull almost. Uh, people joke around about those past lives and those things or those connections, and there's something deeper within me that feels a pull towards that. And I'm, I'm not quite sure if, um, it's because I had family that, you know, escaped hungry once the Soviets came in, so thanks for that, um, or if it was because my grandfather served in it, or for whatever reason, I just, I have this pull to it. And so when you think about the mass casualty of the civilian population, that's very difficult for me to wrap my brain around after being in a war and seeing when you have a small subset of civilians die, how much of an impact that has on that community right there in just, in just a tiny area. So to, to try to wrap my brain around what happened in Europe and all across and, and all that, I really struggle with that, because I don't know that I can comprehend what that would truly mean to somebody if I, if I didn't experience it or, or see it for what it is. Does that make sense?