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Adrian Jimenez accepts his cruel fate with a shrug. Reading his story, that is what’s most troubling. At 22, he is too world-weary to feel even a little bit sorry for himself. It’s as if he doesn’t believe he deserves any better than the sequence of horrors that he lived through while serving in Iraq.

At 19, he found himself in a war zone, the leader of a fire team, responsible for the lives of several men. He saw his best friend shot through the head. Another friend was killed in a car bombing. His squad was implicated in a massacre of civilians. When the violence finally got to him, and he snapped and started drinking, the Marine Corps cut him loose. Back home in Salinas, he found nothing but trouble.

In the face of all of this, Jimenez appears unfazed. Practically abandoned by the leaders he followed into battle, he expresses no anger. Facing an uncertain future, with a pregnant girlfriend, he exhibits no fear. His recent attempts to get himself healed show a great deal of courage, but he does not seem to feel much pride.

t’s just more bad news.Our outrage fades as the outrageous becomes more commonplace.

Emotional numbness is a war wound—a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. This is how human beings respond to profound distress. It’s probably a survival mechanism. We are not wired to handle an infinite amount of misery; at some point we shut down. Tens of thousands of soldiers who’ve returned from Iraq are afflicted with this inability to feel their feelings.

Tens of thousands of others have lost arms and legs, half of their faces, the ability to speak—witnessing such casualties, it’s impossible not to feel sick and sad. Adrian Jimenez’ battle scars are not as obvious; nevertheless, it’s hard to look at his buried pain without feeling deep remorse.

There is also something eerily familiar about this soldier’s affected indifference. His story can serve as a reminder that this war is hurting us all. None of us are immune to the violence he confronted on the front lines, which left his spirit numb. We find ourselves today living in a world where violence is so rampant we just accept it. After reading Jimenez’ story this week, I saw it everywhere I looked, and I found myself thinking that emotional numbness has become epidemic.