The Trauma Pill

I read an article about the development of a pill that will supposedly make the memory of a traumatic event less painful and intense.

Here are my thoughts…

In the past YEAR:

I went through 4 hurricanes.

I lived through 4 weeks without power, hot water, refrigerated food, or money for gas because of said hurricanes.

Someone broke into my apartment.

I had to move while another hurricane hit.

My cats and I got fleas.

My company went out of business when I was about to be promoted.

I lost 20 people I had hired, trained, and developed.

I moved across the country for a job I had no idea if I would like.

Broke up with the man I thought I was going to marry.

Left the job because I hated it and my boss was a demeaning prick and a total douche-bag.

My Dad remarried.

When I told him I was having a nervous breakdown, and begged him for emotional support, he didn’t call for a week and said I was being too sensitive. He yells at me when I ask him for $50, much less the money I actually need to buy FOOD (though it’s not even his money–it comes from a trust my grandpa set up)

For the second time in 12 months, I’m unemployed and I have no insurance.

I have to make up reasons to leave my apartment every day.

But you know what?

I didn’t write this for pity, tears, or sympathy. We all go through shit. It is what makes us human. The shit we endure makes us stronger.

My point is that I’m proud of my trauma!

My experiences are preparing me to be a stronger woman and a matriarch someday for my family. I wear my baggage like a medal.

We don’t earn wisdom through easiness.

My pain is my most valuable asset: I could lose everything tomorrow–but I would survive because of what I’ve overcome. People go through horrors in life. But that’s life! It is what enables us to progress as a human race.

If we take pills to erase the memories, then how will we advance? If a pill numbed the recollection of pain, would we ever learn anything more complicated than not to touch a hot stove?

Why can’t our scientists focus on curing AIDS or Cancer, instead of plying us with medications that will do nothing but weaken us?

The world is a Darwinian place–Survival of the Fittest is one of our most primal laws. If you don’t believe in that, you aren’t the Fittest, and your chance of survival is far more precarious than it is for those who have undergone trauma and survived.