A bizarre political climate.  Wildfires. Frigid temperature deaths.  COVID and flu upticks.  Continuing wars.  I sometimes feel like the whole world is in trauma.  Ordinarily, we limit the definition of trauma to something imposed on us from the outside.  I think that’s why I have stopped watching the news. Even though I only witnessed these tragedies on television, I consistently felt assaulted by external forces.  When I recognize that I am not strong enough or smart enough to resist these forces, I feel powerless and somewhat helpless.  My default coping strategy is to withdraw, but that makes for a very boring life.

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What does it mean to devote my life, even in retirement, to healing in an increasingly traumatized world?  I am trying to figure that out.

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 I am drawn to the stories of those before me whose lives were much more traumatized than mine.  The indigenous peoples of this country, whose lives and lands were stolen.  The immigrants who came here believing the words on the Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” but who found only rejection.  Those caught up in chattel slavery because they were deemed unhuman due to the color of their skin and whose heirs still suffer for the same reason.  Remembering these stories helps me keep my own psychological trauma in perspective.

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So, what am I to do?  I keep my calendar full with small acts of kindness.  I have control over those.  A plaque in my office reads, “It is what it is…but it will become what you make it.”  It sat on my desk within the view of my clients for the many years I was providing therapy, but now I read it for myself.  I cook a meal for the residents of a group home once a week.  I promote interfaith conversations everywhere I can.  I try very hard to be a good listener. I am an elder in my church.   I volunteer in two justice-related groups.  I have joined the League of Women Voters.  I write pieces like this.  So, at the age of 80, I think that is enough for me to do.

  

I suggest that you do the same.  Make your list.  We can only do what we can do.