On healing wounds
Can they actually be healed?
I grew up at a time when wounds healed on their own. No treatments, no ointments. A tender scar progressed to a hardened lump before becoming invisible to others who would not mention the wound or the scar, so that it could remain hidden.
I learned that I was not to mention wounds either, not mine neither those I could see in others.
Wounds continued to be open in a secret space under my skin, thriving in my silence and the silence of others, actively branching out and growing freely under the power of being ignored. They became apparent only by the excruciating pain they caused. Doctors and healers were unable to identify the source of the pain, there was nothing wrong, just like it was expected since the scars were no longer visible.
Great. I may be hurting from this outrageously good health.
Doctors and healers confirmed my pain had no reason to exist. But the conclusion didn’t make the pain disappear.
Those who are just growing up, those who still show their youth in their skin and their poor choices, may speak openly about their wounds. Maybe they will heal and manage to avoid the pain in the future.
I can only wonder if their approach works. It’s too late for me.
What is clear is that if we were able to show our wounds and scars, if we didn’t need to hide them to pretend the world is fine, we would have been able to stop the destruction we continue to perpetrate imagining it will eventually disappear, become invisible and therefore non-existent.
