Ode To Self 1

Gentle Reader, I am still writing about trauma, but on this little subseries I would like to touch more on the ethics of trauma, which is to say, how a society full of selfish douchebags, such as the one we are living in, can contribute to trauma, and traumatize and greatly intensify the injuries and wounds of the already traumatized.

I am thinking particularly of our own crisis of homelessness here in Vancouver.  This is our own homegrown style of collective trauma.  Made in Canada, you say?   Yesterday I wrote about the well-dressed idiots enjoying their cappuccino on a sidewalk patio café just two metres from a young man sleeping on the sidewalk.  I almost but didn't quite give them a pass for being stupid, ignorant and self-absorbed.  They could have done something, even if buy a coffee and muffin for the guy sleeping next to them on the sidewalk.  I suppose that is something I might have done too, except I am already living on a low income which unfortunately places severe limits on my budget.  I am somewhat persuaded to believe that the sidewalk café yuppies are considerably better off and they weren't doing anything for the poor guy for the simple reason that they didn't want to.

Men are even worse than women for selfishness and these people, through their selfish indifference, simply continually pour vinegar on the wounds of the already broken and vulnerable.  We live in a culture with its roots in feudalism and social inequality remains with us a major scourge.  Thanks to a long history of reforms and changes we, at least in Canada, are no longer hobbled by the British social class structure.  Our inequality is economic, and the prevalence of Neo-Darwinist capitalism has simply entrenched that mentality.

This morning, from the bus, on South Granville I noticed first two bicycles moored to parking metres, then two men sleeping on the sidewalk.  A very well-dressed gentleman of a certain age walked by, his enormous black greyhound straining at the tight leash he was on.

I do not begrudge people having dogs.  They make wonderful pets, as we all know.  However, dogs as pets have come to supplant other humans as key figures in many people's lives.  That greyhound, that beautiful, magnificent beast, is going to be better fed and much better loved and cared for than those two guys sleeping rough beneath that wealthy gentleman's unseeing eye.  He is likely a better and more trusted friend to the distinguished fellow than any mere human would be privileged to.

Dogs are frequently used as therapy animals for trauma sufferers and they are very effective.  For me this begs the obvious question with an obvious answer: Why dogs instead of humans?  Given that the trauma is usually brought on by human agency, why trust a human to bring comfort to the traumatized?  Likely the poor survivors' stress and cortisol levels are going to skyrocket just from the touch of the wrong human hand, since the injury was inflicted by a human being.

What is wrong with us?  I have never been huge on pets, myself, as I really love human interaction, and never would I even consider a therapy dog in place of talking things out with a trusted counsellor, if I could find one.

Our lack of ethics has done much to feed our selfish culture of narcissism and this has made us humans dangerous and toxic to one another.  I would like to see us reclaim our humanity and to become renewed in our capacity for healing ourselves and one another.

Maybe after the flying pigs have landed.