SCARS
We my be able to cover and care for the wound and bring the tissues back to a reasonable state of health, but we cannot always prevent the formation of a scar to remind us of the injury.
The same is true of so many of the disappointments and tragedies and disappointments of our lives. We can forget the spate of school killings which haunted us for months in 1999, or the September 11th attacks and the Beltway shootings - and far too many other such event in our individual lives.
At times one might think they had best be left alone, at least for a time, until the horror elements fade a bit. It is difficult to see how regular re-runs of all the details can help survivors in any way.
It is done, very often, with a pretense of finding out what “really happened”. At least that is the reason I hear so often when by-gone events are being brought to the forefront again by TV, radio or the print media. Such actions can,if done thoughtlessly, destroy the confidence we have in our legal procedure and to suggest that something was amiss which ought to be set straight.
Sometimes I feel the real reason we tend to revive such events, is that we have never been convinced of “why" it all happened as it did. The element of “why ”is the spur to continued investigation. We examine the record and find nothing new. The big question mark looms through the fog: Why?
There is an unknowable quality there which we wonder about. The ancient religious person performed a mikvah - a purification bath - to remove such stains and scars, and a re-telling haunting events may help some individuals feel better about the past. If it helps them build for a better future - fine, but if it leaves them still in doubt it can lead only to ultimate despair.
Too often, the scar remains.
A..L.M. August 5, 2003 [c328wds]
