Quick Thought Number 5 – Most People Have Been Traumatized

Over the weekend, I tweeted a link to a post I had written, sharing an article about supporting people who are dealing with trauma. There was, however, one person who quoted the tweet with a comment that stuck with me for a couple of days:

Very few people haven’t experienced trauma (very few women especially). We can all use this information. https://t.co/pt4dbjwiEE

— Taryn De Vere (@TarynDeVere) November 10, 2018

One, Taryn is right. If we look at the various statistics covering child abuse, domestic violence, victims of crime, military service members, sexual assault, etc. we have to come to the conclusion that the vast majority of people have experienced trauma, and would benefit from being treated with appropriate kindness.

Of course, we tend not to see the world this way. We tend to think of other people, especially people we don’t know, as though the possibility that they may be struggling is ridiculous. They aren’t struggling with PTSD, or social anxiety, they are just rude.

Well, maybe we should stop and think about just how many people we come across in any given day, have suffered some kind of trauma, and are doing their best to deal with it. If we could go into every interaction assuming that we don’t have any idea what kind of trauma the other person has been through, we might just change the world around us. And, really, we don’t know what kind of trauma anyone else is dealing with. It’s likely that they have at some point in their life. Isn’t that enough to be gracious?

I’d like to think it is, even as I struggle myself with getting frustrated with other people. It’s something I hope to continuing working on.