I can't function: Re: But It IS the Same

» vivavoce - Re: But It IS the Same

In response to message posted by vivavoce:

The effects you and all of us are feeling are exactly the same as the abused in a "domestic violence" situation.

That numbness, that inertia, that blindness to everything around you -- those are the same effects as domestic violence. They prevent you from being able to function unless there is an overwhelming, conscious effort to overcome it. Likewise, that sense of helplessness as you look about you and see only chaos and rubble of what used to be an orderly existence with rhyme and reason.

That same inability to work is infecting workplaces around the world. It is the same disease that affects the worker who is enduring domestic abuse. Right now it is costing their employer thousands of dollars. Multiply that times how many are now affected by the stymying elements of the first visages of war.

The same sense of insecurity and need to make doubly certain you're safe as you go from one place to another without being discovered -- whether by the abuser or by some type of enemy attack -- is the very same. It merely has a different face.

And that same furtive need to know where the escape routes are when you go to a store are there during this time. The need to keep certain types of information secret or private lest you give away useful information to the attacker.

Only a sense of duty and obligation to some small thing -- a pet, a cause, a child, a bill that needs to be paid -- is what keeps you moving and feeling some purposefulness of any kind and a reason to keep striving. And the other thing that keeps you going is knowing that at any moment, your aggressor may appear again and you MUST be ready to avert their moves or allay them, to defend yourself when the blows come (whether they be physical, psychological or verbal), to survive so that you can escape, and so that you can survive to rebuild your life and the beautiful world that used to be yours. So that you can tell others in order that they be warned and know and thus are armed for the defense and then the offensive position.

Rest now, Laura. We can wait. Come back strong and dauntless and ready.

It is the same. With new, clear, rested eyes, we will see it.

We understand.

-- posted by vivavoce