Human beings have very powerful minds and emotions. I used to believe that we are incredibly resilient. I no longer believe that.
I believe we are all incredibly fragile and easily damaged.
My long experience of working with children and observing adults have made me extremely aware that many of us are broken and our response is often aggression, hatred and violence.
I used to say to the teaching staff at my school that there was no such thing as a bad kid. Their bad behaviour was the result of having been damaged by their experiences; our job was to mend them.
I have seen close up the effects of bereavement, bullying, racism, divorce and abuse. The victims often either withdraw or become aggressive.
When I was a child at school a number of my teachers were ex-soldiers. They were not only violent aggressive bullies but they seemed to hate us.
I cannot begin to imagine the effect war has on the fragile human psyche. My father would not talk about it. My grandfather would not mention it. But I have met numerous highly confused and violent veterans; one of whom was a murderer.
Around the world at the moment we have millions of people traumatised by war. Some are victims and some are perpetrators. I cannot begin to imagine how some of them ever manage to sleep again. It is no wonder that some are either heartless fiends and others are traumatised wrecks. If you are going to saw someone’s head off at some point in the future that will haunt your waking moments and turn your sleep to nightmares. It catches up with you.
Human beings are fragile. The little things send us off the rails; the big things drive us into psychosis.
Yes, war creates a lot of damage. Big time. Hard times during formative years set one up for a lifetime of nightmares. I do believe some are more resilient than others. Some of the kids I worked with from hellish homes came through reasonably unscathed, while some with lesser hells entered the system forever …foster homes to jail, etc. How is that spider treating you, speaking of nightmares? 🙂
You’re right. Some were very resilient but so many others were twisted by it.
We are being plagued by these evil creatures from another dimension who are extruding themselves into our universe through some wormhole.
The one of my previous focus met its demise.
However – there was a huge one on the wall yesterday. It ran like lightning and has disappeared. I searched and searched to no effect. I know it is there – lurking – biding its time and scheming. It will emerge in the dead of night and carry out its macabre mission.
Needless to say I am sleeping fitfully.
Thank you for your concern. If there are no more posts you know I will have been driven mad.
I agree with you . Our minds are fragile. You can see through MRI scans the difference between a traumatic brain vs “normal” brain. Yet science gives us hope too. If we engage in mindfulness activities and take care of our bodies we can heal and bounce back. It is a life long journey but it is possible if the supports are put in place. Trauma has a multigenerational impact of society and if we can’t start the healing process the consequences will be significant.
Too true – thanks for your response – Cheers Opher