They say, “Old wounds die hard.”
As someone who has never really kept grudges or picked at old wounds, I’ve never really understood this.
But recently I found myself in a situation that was made more complicated because of some old wounds.
I’m not really sure what to say about old wounds except that, though I don’t have many, I get it. I get the fact that yesterday’s disappointment, betrayal, or injustice can shape our current and future attitudes and choices. I also get the fact that human beings are powerful and that, unfortunately, we’re as likely to wound as we are to heal, as likely to cause pain as we are to bring joy.
How we own our wounds, how we own our wounding, how we heal ourselves and one another, how we empathize with and support one another when confronting wounds… These are the times when our relationships are tested and when our true capacity to exhibit an ethic of care, for ourselves and others emerges.