Facing the Past

Yesterday in the New York Times, David Brooks writes about how humans, cultures, and nations deal with past injustice and traumas.  He doesn’t solve the issue, but it is an interesting start.  We need to think of the ways that trauma works and how it can be overcome.

Many of the issues we have been dealing with in 2015 revolve around unhealed cultural memories: how to acknowledge past wrongs and move forward into the light….Many of the protests on campus and other places have been about unearthing memory or asserting a narrative, or, at their worst, coercing other narratives into silence. There have been pleasant and unpleasant episodes during all this, but over all, you’d have to say this has been a good and necessary stage in the nation’s journey….

Even after a tough year, we are born into a story that has a happy ending. Wrongs can be recognized, memories unearthed, old hurts recognized and put into context. What’s the point of doing this unless you’re fueled by hope and comforted by grace?

 I hope he’s right about the happy ending.  Here’s the whole article.