Dear All,
I do think we should ground ourselves in what we know about people.
Bereavement, I think we know, involves grief, anger and fear and these need
expression if healing is to take place.
A similarity with the death of princess Diana is that it gave
respectability to the expression of grief amongst emotionally repressed
people. Much, I believe, of the grief that poured out was little to do
with the princess and much to do with peoples own unhealed losses.
In this case, there are also clearer grounds for anger and there is plenty
of unexpressed personal anger around that these events will give an
opportunity to express.
In this case, there are also the real bereavements that are being
experienced by thousands of people. There is also, I think, a bereavement
that the whole of the US has experienced which will also be felt by many
others. This is the loss of something like a sense of security and, maybe,
a sense that the rest of the world did not matter that much or that ever
yone likes what the US does.
What people need is a safe space to work through bereavement. In
particular, they need to be protected from doing harm to themselves and
others through the expression of their anger.
So I want us to do everything we can to support people in their losses, to
honour how they feel and at the same time to work towards tolerance and
peace. In particular to try to ensure that no more people are deliberately
harmed in the wake of these events.
Best wishes
John
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