| http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/20/iraq.journalist/index.html
I find this interesting.
In the newspaper a week or so ago, there was an article describing yet another amazing scientific breakthrough. This new "miracle drug" has the potential to stop the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD for all the cool kids out there). Useful, noted the article, for patients suffering from the aftermath of war, natural disasters, violent crime (such as rape or other attacks), and prolonged abuse. Initially, it sounds helpful. Some patients cannot even function because of the long-reaching effects of these emotionally-altering events. However, in the broad scheme of things, what are horizon drugs like this really breaking forth to be? Plastic surgery was originally intended to heal the physical scars of those disfigured in accidents. Now, any dissatisfied and selfish individual can trade in her dollars for a set of double-D's.
The mind is a complicated and mysterious entity. Interestingly enough, the mind in all its power has yet to completely figure out how it itself works. Medications such as this for PTSD anesthetize the very core of our beings: emotion. Our minds are chemically numbed until we can no longer feel.
Thousands of years ago, an intelligent creator (I stuck that in just for you, Kansas) invented a brilliant mechanism. Should a lowly creature step on a sharp rock, the aching foot will send a flashing signal to the control center, alerting the animal that it has been violated. Without these signs, a critter could continue walking for miles, infecting the open wound with scores of bacteria. A calamity such as this can kill a creature. Amazingly, the same thing happens to our minds. When we touch upon a sharp subject in our memory, the brain sends out feelings of hurt, anguish, and fear. While often overwhelming, as in the cases of PTSD, these mechanisms still serve a purpose.
Mother always told you, and I hope you listened. That which does not kill you will ultimately make you stronger. Well, I expand upon that statement, including the assertion, that which does not kill you can ultimately help another man. We learn through pain. I will never touch the hot burner again, because it hurt. If no veteran can retell the sadness he felt as his comrade expired in his arms, if no rape victim can recount the emptiness that resonated within her after being wholly and completely violated, how can we find the firm moral basis needed to prevent history from repeating itself?
No one really wants to hurt, but something can be learned from the pain we feel. |
