Trauma Begets Trauma

In college, my mentor was the head honcho of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. To me, he was one of the coolest, smartest, wisest guys around. At first, I was intimidated by him. But through time and interaction, I came to feel worthy of being his mentee. I adored him and respected him. One day I asked him: what is the single-most important reason why peace does not prevail in the world? His answer was trauma.

Trauma. Whoa...sheer brilliance. And while it may seem like the answer to my question should have been more complex and varied, I tend to believe that he was absolutely right. Trauma. I have had my share. I have personal experience of how when we are traumatized the wounds not only trap us in pain, but how that pain permeates through our surroundings. Instead of operating on the highest level of the hierarchy of needs, we exist on the lowest - the place where we can only strive to survive. We are in what they call survival mode.

Webster's first definition of trauma is as follows:

a. an injury (as a wound) as to living tissue caused by an extrinsic agent
b. a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury
c. an emotional upset

Whether in our personal lives, families, communities, societies, countries, or world - and whether through assault by words or weapons or unwanted/unwarranted circumstances, once trauma invades, its consequences pervade. Because where there is trauma there is pain, and not peace. There are holes, but not wholeness. And when individuals or states or anything in between are wretched with pain and suffering, it's pretty difficult to focus on anything else. Traumatized entities may be aware of their wounds or not, but they are still suffering and until they are healed they will not be able to be fully self-actualized.

We see it war-torn countries. Assaults from outside forces incur the desire and oftentimes the necessity for retaliation. Homes and communities are destroyed. People are killed, thus scarring the loved ones they leave behind with grief. And when retaliation occurs, another state is left to deal with similar damages. It's a vicious cycle.

We see the same cycle in families where there is physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse. The victims often-times grow-up to be abusers themselves. And if they don't, their pain most likely affects them in some other adverse way, thus preventing them from living full and flourishing lives. Unless, of course, they heal.

We see it in underprivileged communities. Trauma of diseducation, poverty, and crime, often lead to more diseducation, poverty and crime. All of which ripple and extend through these communities, creating more havoc and hurt along the way.

I don't know how to heal the world. And right now I don't even know how to heal myself. My body has been traumatized by illness, and this illness has traumatized my family, my career, my dreams, and my goals. I once heard that in order to heal trauma you must process and release all of the raw emotions of the event which caused it. I think we have to heal ourselves before the world can heal. If we can heal our individual traumas, whatever they are, and we all have them, then we can start to heal our families and close relationships. We can be better friends, and better citizens. We can help others to heal. And maybe then we can start to heal the world. Here's to healing

Septembre

September. It means seven. The number seven represents infusion of the Divine into creation. It is also the number of stellar objects in our solar system that are visible to the naked eye – the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. It’s a lucky number. And let’s not forget, it is the number of habits belonging to highly effective people.

Septembre. It sounds so much better in French. Say it with me: “Sep-tom-bruh."

It’s the month when the kiddies return to school. A new year of knowledge. A fresh beginning on the next tier of the ladder of life. It’s the month when Autumn begins. The season where certain things change color, die, and fall off, only to be born again in the Spring. A prelude to the temporary end of things. But at the same time, a new beginning.

September follows August and precedes October. August being the quintessential summer vacation month. October being a whole nother blog, or at least the month of the scary, the second best color, and my first best friend. However, neither of these months are as significant as September. I’m just beginning to see how significant this month really is.

I’m not gonna lie. I expect a lot from September. I expect change. I expect new beginnings. I expect to return to the school of life after a brief vacation. I want new clothes and new supplies. Am I nervous? Hells yes. But I am looking forward to that new smell. Not the toxic sort, but the good ole natural smell of Indian Summer.

I have never been more ready for September. September, are you ready for me?

(Mad props to Wikipedia.)

Stop the War Right Now

I wish we would all just stop whatever it is we're doing right now and stop the war.

What We Don't See Can Hurt Us

There are so many atrocities taking place throughout the world on an everyday, every moment basis. We know this. We read about them. We see them on the news. But for the most part, we don't have to witness the horrors and injustices of the world. Sure, we might actually get a firsthand glance every once in a while, because certainly some of these undesirable social ills exist in our own backyards (or least the neighboring post-industrial city next to our bright shiny suburb). But for the most part, our first and secondhand experiences of the blight of this world are momentary and fleeting; they don't last long enough to make a real impact: the kind of impact that would cause us to question why this is, how it came to be, and what can be done to solve or ameliorate it.

Pardon my language usage of we and us. Certainly there are plenty of people whose lives are completely submerged in the realities of the world. I'm speaking to the average American here; I'm speaking to the middle and working classes (figuratively, not literally). Because I've recently returned home to live with my mother in the suburbs after a nine-year tenure in Detroit, and a brief stint in the third world, and I've been paying close attention to the lives around me since I've returned to Zombieland. I've even turned on the television. So I'm beginning to get a sense of how it is that we, as average Americans, have come to allow things that should never, ever be, not only be, but also perpetuate and thrive.

And here it is, the $64,000 dollar question: why is it that we allow things like unnecessary war (which is killing and dismembering our young soldiers) and poverty and inequality (which are leaving so many of our children behind, or worse - in prison) to be a rampant part of our structural and institutional practices in America? These are the policy issues that are completely under the sole jurisdiction of America. I won't even begin to dabble in the imminent dooms of the global climate, food, and energy crises. And I'm not going to get into the global issues that are not technically "our" responsibility - like the HIV orphans, starvation, genocide, human rights violations, and the many other unfathomable, and unacceptable social phenomena that are taking place right now. We can't even get our own shit straight; so how can we even begin to wrap our minds around the social problems from which we are three steps of separation?

I think I have the answer. Not to that last question, but to the $64,000 question. Forgive me if my offering seems trite. I'm not going to blame it all on the television, though I do believe it is a major factor (is it a coincidence that inequality levels in America have triple-quadruple- sky-rocketed since the invention of that nifty little entertainment box? I guess only a well-crafted econometric regression analysis could really tell.) The answer is slightly more complex than blaming the television. And here it is: individuals have too many of their own problems, consumer interests, and immediate struggles to care about what is affecting someone else, albeit their metropolitan neighbor, an unknown soldier, or a faceless child in Darfur. People have their own bills and babies to worry about, and that's enough to consume an average American for a lifetime. Add a little Lost or Desperate Housewives into the mix, a Macy's Thirteen Hour sale, and the chances of garnering an average American's attention to the serious things that don't affect them becomes near impossible. Pour in an unexpected personal or familial health crisis and it becomes impossible.

Not only that, but we live in a representative democracy, wherein we elect officials whom we trust to make prudent policy decisions for us. They don't. And you don't write them or call them to tell them what kind of policy decisions you want them to make. Yes, I'm talking to you. You don't. (If you do, please contact me and I'll apologize, but chances are such responses will be close to none). Don't worry; I don't write them much either. I just think about it and plan to, but never do. But at the end of the day, you know we're wrong, right? We have a greater obligation to participate in this political process than just watching CNN on election night. As long as this is a democracy, we are responsible for the dying soldiers and impoverished youth of this wonderful land of opportunity. If our elected officials aren't making the kinds of decisions we want to shape our communities and world, then it's our responsibility to hold them accountable. I'm just saying.

I tend to believe that if we had to witness the atrocities and injustices of the world on a firsthand, everyday basis, then we would be more apt to ponder the whys, the hows, and the solutions. I think we'd be more likely to do something about it. In fact, I don't think there's anyway we could continue to ignore that which ails us. It does ail us. We don't have to look at inner-city poverty, because segregation has done its job. We don't have to watch the IEDs killing and maiming our young soldiers, because our war is not on our land. We don't have to think about the food, energy, and climate crises, because they're not directly affecting us - yet. And we certainly don't have to worry about the sick children, the abused women, or the refugees of afar. Why would we? We wouldn't. We should. But we can't. Like I said, we have our own problems to worry about.

What we don't see can and does hurt us. It might not hurt us as individual average Americans, but it hurts us as humanity. We don't have to think about the terrible social problems of our country or our world. We can't. We have our own immediate needs and wants to fulfill (our babies, bills, and Benz's). And even if we do think about those problems, we don't have to take responsibility for them, because we can blame it on the officials who are making our policy decisions for us. And thank goodness we don't have to see them, because that my friends, might actually cause us to make a change.

REPOSTED. ORIGINALLY PENNED ON MAY 29, 2008.

Racism

Forty-one years ago today, on July 23, 1967, the infamous Detroit race riots broke out in the early morning. Though whites had been leaving the city for many years prior, it was this particular event that caused the remaining whites to flee the city and never look back. Hence, leading to the hypersegregation phenomenon that pervades the Detroit metropolitan area today. In remembrance of that hot, brutal, sad, and violent day, I am posting excerpts from an essay I wrote in 2001. Followed by a brief insight from the present.

• A riot is described by Webster as a wild or violent disorder, confusion or disturbance; a violent public disturbance of the peace by a number of persons assembled together; an outburst or vivid display; and beyond...but how does he describe an uprising?...

• On the surface, many of the riots that occurred throughout the country during the summer of 1967 were sparked by unbearable heat waves and unjustified police shootings of African Americans. Beneath the surface, these racial tensions had been brewing for decades (if not centuries) due to unequal access to housing, employment, and education, as well as other forms of overt racism...

• The 1967 Detroit race riots were initiated by a police raid of a blind pig. The Detroit police force, a primarily white institution, which epitomized racial oppression, was the catalyst that would fuel Detroit's own "Great Rebellion." At the end of the ordeal, 43 people were left dead, 34 of whom were killed by armed officials. Thousands of shopkeepers were put out of business due to the fires and looting that coincided with this event...

• Note: (The above excerpts from my undergraduate essay do no justice to this important historical event. If you are really interested in the details, please read the book "Detroit: I Do Mind Dying" by Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin.)

Some people argue that racism is dead; it no longer exists. I argue this: there is no longer a need for individuals to be racist, in order to have a racist society; racism is inherent in our structures and institutions. In other words, racism is no longer de jure; it's de facto. One hundred-fifty years ago, there was a mentality that whites were superior to blacks and therefore deserved to own them. Fifty years ago, there was a mentality that whites were superior to blacks and therefore deserved a higher level of social affordation. Today, well today, whites no longer have to believe that they are superior to blacks, because it is explicitly implied in the distribution of wealth and access in this country. Slavery did its part. Jim Crowe did its part. And even though the Civil Rights Movement did its counterpart, modern-day segregation has ensured that social inequality drawn along racial lines no longer has to be a matter of opinion, it's practically a matter of fact.

The Omniscience of Google Ads

Sometimes Google Ads just plain freak me out.

An Open Letter to Obama

Dear Senator Obama,

Congratulations on your presumptive nomination as the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nominee! I have been a supporting you from the get-go.

Since there is a good chance you will be the next President of the United States of America, I have a couple policy concerns I would like to express:

• A more consumer-efficient process for those people seeking Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits from the U.S. Government

• Research, recognition, and legitimization of the illness know as Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) and/or Environmental Illness (EI)

I am a former young professional and University of Chicago public policy studies graduate student, who was chemically injured while studying abroad. I now have severe chemical sensitivities and health problems, and I am unable to work. This is problematic for me on many levels, but my suffering is exacerbated by the fact that my illness is not recognized by the general medical community (even though many people are suffering from it), and because my mother is going into severe debt supporting me while I await the multi-year process to receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.

I encourage you, during your presidency, to do whatever you can to help get research funding and recognition for people who are afflicted by chemical injuries and the severe health problems such injuries cause. There is an emerging body of medical evidence supporting the fact that Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and Environmental Illness are indeed very real health conditions. Gulf War Syndrome and the health problems that many 9/11 survivors are experiencing are of this nature. I would be happy to provide you with excellent resources to help guide you in your acquisition of knowledge about this health problem, if need be.

I also believe it is necessary that the United States Social Security Administration establish a more consumer-efficient process for people seeking disability benefits. Currently, it takes about three years for people who are sick and disabled to receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. This is outrageous. Many people die, put their families into debt, or end up homeless while waiting to receive approval of their benefits. I think this is a disgrace and we can do better for the disabled people of this country.

Thank you for hearing my concerns. I am so excited and inspired by your candidacy and I am more than hopeful that you will be our next President. In fact, I am faithful.

With Very Best Regards,

Jaime Owen