Owning It

Photo Credit:   Maa-illustrations, Dreamstime

Each of us sees life through an emotional prism. The light refracted through it colors our every thought and act. It may be that some of the colors are of pain. It may be that some of us are, in some ways, 'walking wounded'.

The phrase, 'walking wounded', is a medical term, originally used to refer to those of the battlefield-wounded whose injuries were minor enough that they were still able to 'walk', or function almost as normal. It was later also applied to those who suffered cognitive impairment resulting from a traumatic brain injury. They appear normal, but require far more concentration to get through the normal tasks of the day than they did before the injury, leaving them with chronic mental fatigue.

With apologies to those in the medical community who may be offended, I'm using the phrase, 'walking wounded', to describe those of us who are survivors of emotional trauma. There isn't a physical injury as in the above two cases, but to the afflicted, the suffering is just as severe.

I've found that writing for the emotionally 'walking wounded' in my stories have surfaced some of the hurts that I bear, and also, some for which I'd like to atone. Calling folks out for having hurt me in the past isn't something that I will do. My hurts are small. So for me, it is up to the ones who inflicted the hurts to own up to them and apologize for them. My only responsibility is to rise above them and live abundantly.

On the other hand, I shall make an effort to apologize for hurts that I know I have caused. I am hopeful that they too, when looking through the prism to the past, now seem small.