Pain leaches from places we don’t want it to be. That’s why we root out what we can. It makes no difference if it’s mental, emotional, or physical. It is self perpetuating. We must give aid and comfort with an eye toward healing to minimize its impact. This goes for generational pain too. That which gets ignored, denied, and swept under the rug flourishes in darkness and metastasizes. It waits to resurge when we are least able to defend ourselves. As we age as individuals, families, communities, or a nation, that which goes unaddressed gains power over us. I wish this wasn’t so but my desire is irrelevant. To quote a wise woman, “It’s like gravity. It doesn’t require your belief to make it work.” And just like gravity, pain never entirely disappears. It’s our job to make falling to earth more like a small stumble rather than from a high cliff. Like Robin Williams said in FernGully: The Last Rainforest, “Gravity works!”
L’Chaim.
Joceile
3/5/23
[Picture: An example of unrequited generational pain. From left, my great grandmother, her mother, and my grandmother. My mom is the little girl. Circa 1938]
