Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Trauma, Scars, Perspective
Nuts! I was all set to do a survey that was empty, vapid, and shallow, like Terry McAuliffe's plan for Virginia. Then...
BOOM. Stuff got real at the end of the episode. May talks to Coulson about his struggles to deal with past trauma, which caused me to start thinking about trauma. Sure, most of us haven't been killed by an alien staff like Coulson, but we can all relate with his struggle to cope.
Like Coulson, we all bear the scars of past trauma. Some of those scars are physical, some emotional, but we all have them. And we all must come to terms with those scars.
There is a fine line in dealing with scars. It is right to remember how we got our scars in order to learn from the past as well as to see how far we have come since that time. The past teaches us important lessons. It is also good and necessary to move forward from our scars. Time moves on and we must continue living our various lives.
But how does one strike the proper balance between proper remembrance and continuing to live as a fully functional member of society? I may only be a twenty-something year old blogging punk, but even I know that it isn't healthy to dwell on or completely forget the past.
So what's the balance? How do we heal from trauma?
Time may help make a scar feel more normal, but the thing about a scar is it never fully heals. That's why they call it a scar. If time doesn't fully heal old wounds, what does?
I don't have the answers. If I did, I'd work in counseling instead of television blogging. But I do know that if you are struggling to heal from a scar, reaching out to a trusted friend can help. Go to someone who will be real with you about their own struggles. Know that you aren't alone; that you aren't the only one who has felt the way you do. Others have had similar struggles and want you to be able to put the pieces together again.
