When we consider what other cultures in other times lived with and accepted as normal this can really give the lie to some of our contemporary assumptions about trauma, mental health and mental illness. Any Canadian living in 2017, if asked what they did today, would not be likely to reply that they had just attended a witch burning, a public execution, public torture, or human sacrifice. Anyone, upon hearing that that was how you and I spent our day, would be horrified, shocked and likely very solicitous of our psychological wellbeing from being exposed to something so awful and cruel. No one would think that this kind of state or socially sanctioned violence could play any role in their lives, much less be given legitimacy.
Try to visualize having a conversation with an Aztec or a Spaniard from the early sixteenth century. Now try to imagine their reaction as you tell them about your day today. Here's a sample:
Hello Juan, or hello Ilhuitl. This is how I spent my day. I was up early, with the sun, had a shower, ate breakfast, went for a walk, then took the bus, or rode my bike or drove my car to work where I spoke to my coworkers, met with clients, went on the computer, then went on my coffee break, later I had lunch and sat in a café with my phone or laptop, returned to work, then walked, drove, biked or bussed home, stopped in the supermarket to buy tomatoes, cheese, baguette and romaine, stopped in the gym for a workout, or went for a run, or simply walked or biked home and that was enough, went home, prepared dinner with my microwave and/or electric stove, washed dishes or simply loaded them in the dishwasher, then went online, talked on the phone with my mother, father, sibling, friend, adult child, went online again, spent way too much time on Facebook or Tinder or Instagram, got tired, watched something on Netflicks or YouTube, or watched some TV, then went to bed.
Their eyes would glaze over before you finished the first sentence and you would have to explain ever single detail of the kind of privileged, obscenely abundant life that you take for granted without the least assurance that they would have a clue what you were talking about. Juan would likely believe that you live in a nation of witches and sorcerers, and Ilhuitl would wonder if the god Quetzalcoatl and his pantheon has returned to visit following a thousand year absence.
Go further in the conversation and Juan and Ilhuitl will each marvel that there is no death or bloodshed in your nation, neither that the gods expect to be fed on human flesh, nor on human anything since we don't believe in the gods; and Juan will be appalled at the atheism and apostasy that for us is merely indicative that we live in an inclusive, progressive and secular society. They will not comprehend that you go through all your days without being touched by death or bloodshed. They will be gobsmacked that there are no human sacrifices, nor any violent punishments, nor any form of corporal or capital punishment and that even torture is frowned upon, they will think that you live either in paradise, or that you are a nation of soft, morally bankrupt sissies, fruit ripe for the picking, a useless and louche people begging to be conquered, exploited, enslaved, sacrificed and burned.
If communication is allowed to continue over several days and no one has run out of the room screaming or tried to lop off the head of this smooth talking person from the future, then things could get really interesting. If the subject of mental health should come up, and it likely will, our visitors from five hundred years ago will be completely out of their depth. Once the concept of trauma is fully and carefully explained, given that even then they might get it, they will marvel that our people come to harm from being hit by our parents, or sexually touched as children, or simply from ever witnessing such brutal and barbaric acts as are the daily social food in their ordinary lives.
We will find Juan to be quick-tempered, easily given to violence, and prone to overreactions: clear symptoms of trauma. Ilhuitl will take greater interest in his surroundings, though he will often be so quiet as to at times appear catatonic: also a symptom of trauma. Juan and Illuiti will marvel that given our incredible material and information abundance and the peace that we take for granted, that we would be such fearful snivelling cowards: clear symptoms of trauma.
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