I think Harry is doing us all a service. I think as a parent he is being honest. I think he is taking his responsibility to his children's future seriously, thoughtfully, compassionately. I think he is taking his responsibility as a public voice seriously too. I think his compassion is real."I don't think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I'm going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don't pass it on, basically.
It's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on.
I started to piece it together and go 'okay, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he's treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?"
And it's not just about Harry, nor is it about his family (which he did not choose). It is about all of us. Do not let media narratives distract you.
Harry, Meghan and Archie : photo credit, Press Association.
Imagine the changes in social policy that might emerge if trauma informed approaches percolated into the deliberations within Parliament and our NHS, our schools, our Police Forces and our Prison systems, into how we resolve homelessness and much else besides.
There is so much work to be done.
Harry is using his voice, his public presence and status to give some public space to the awareness that intergenerational trauma is a social and material dynamic that is very real, has profound effects on all of us as people and it has an effect on our culture.
Whilst he discusses this in very personal terms, and whilst his discussion relates to and involves members of his own family there is another element which is much more important - the element of this that is for the whole population to consider.
What does intergenerational trauma mean for us, in our lives, in our family lines, our communities?
Would we or could we do things differently if we were trauma informed?
"I argued then that the study of psychological trauma is an inherently political enterprise because it calls attention to the experience of oppressed people. I predicted that our field would continue to be beset by controversy, no matter how solid its empirical foundation, because the same historical forces that in the past have consigned major discoveries to oblivion continue to operate in the world. I argued, finally, that only an ongoing connection with a global political movement for human rights could ultimately sustain our ability to speak about unspeakable things." ~ Judith Herman in Trauma and Recovery
I think that as a society, as a culture and as individuals and families, we all could benefit to some degree to look at whether or not intergenerational trauma has played a role in our lives, in the lives of our families and perhaps become more aware of the possibility that it has, and that as such, more compassion and understanding can grow that leads to less trauma effects as we grow into the future.
I would say too that in my opinion, those in the media who took Harry's words on this to be an attack on his family or an attack on a much loved institution are wrong to assume that position - they are not doing either any service by castigating Harry so.
I have written a bit about intergenerational trauma previously, and it is a subject I have spent some time looking into from a personal perspective and as a societal dynamic.
Unresolved trauma has a way of playing out in our lives, families and communities, and in the history of nations and ethnic histories. What remains unresolved continues to create distortion in behaviour.
Topically as I write, this weekend the Israeli State's 75 year mistreatment of Palestinian people comes to mind. The impact of the invention of Institutional legalised Racism as a tool to divide European and African indentured workers in the British Colonies of the Americas which was the precursor to legalised slavery of Africans comes to mind. The trauma associated with Misogyny is ever present.
The political violence perpetrated by violent governments against citizens seeking accountable democratic governance, in Colombia and Myanmar, and in so many other places comes to mind.
Libya, Syria and Yemen. Northern Ireland. We see the effects of intergenerational trauma writ large.
The football hooliganism last night, of some Rangers and Celtic 'fans' in Glasgow's centre contrasts with the peaceful protest that blocked a hostile environment deportation of asylum seekers, refugees from a traumatised land.
These are all societal level dynamics that afflict so many lives, and because the dynamics of intergenerational trauma remain unresolved, they persist.
It doesn't have to be that way. Cycles of adverse behaviour can be ended.
We can do this.
Thank you, Harry, for lending your voice to this story.
Kindest regards
Corneilius
"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."
Harry is using his voice, his public presence and status to give some public space to the awareness that intergenerational trauma is a social and material dynamic that is very real, has profound effects on all of us as people and it has an effect on our culture.
Whilst he discusses this in very personal terms, and whilst his discussion relates to and involves members of his own family there is another element which is much more important - the element of this that is for the whole population to consider.
What does intergenerational trauma mean for us, in our lives, in our family lines, our communities?
Would we or could we do things differently if we were trauma informed?
"I argued then that the study of psychological trauma is an inherently political enterprise because it calls attention to the experience of oppressed people. I predicted that our field would continue to be beset by controversy, no matter how solid its empirical foundation, because the same historical forces that in the past have consigned major discoveries to oblivion continue to operate in the world. I argued, finally, that only an ongoing connection with a global political movement for human rights could ultimately sustain our ability to speak about unspeakable things." ~ Judith Herman in Trauma and Recovery
I think that as a society, as a culture and as individuals and families, we all could benefit to some degree to look at whether or not intergenerational trauma has played a role in our lives, in the lives of our families and perhaps become more aware of the possibility that it has, and that as such, more compassion and understanding can grow that leads to less trauma effects as we grow into the future.
I would say too that in my opinion, those in the media who took Harry's words on this to be an attack on his family or an attack on a much loved institution are wrong to assume that position - they are not doing either any service by castigating Harry so.
I have written a bit about intergenerational trauma previously, and it is a subject I have spent some time looking into from a personal perspective and as a societal dynamic.
Unresolved trauma has a way of playing out in our lives, families and communities, and in the history of nations and ethnic histories. What remains unresolved continues to create distortion in behaviour.
Topically as I write, this weekend the Israeli State's 75 year mistreatment of Palestinian people comes to mind. The impact of the invention of Institutional legalised Racism as a tool to divide European and African indentured workers in the British Colonies of the Americas which was the precursor to legalised slavery of Africans comes to mind. The trauma associated with Misogyny is ever present.
The political violence perpetrated by violent governments against citizens seeking accountable democratic governance, in Colombia and Myanmar, and in so many other places comes to mind.
Libya, Syria and Yemen. Northern Ireland. We see the effects of intergenerational trauma writ large.
The football hooliganism last night, of some Rangers and Celtic 'fans' in Glasgow's centre contrasts with the peaceful protest that blocked a hostile environment deportation of asylum seekers, refugees from a traumatised land.
These are all societal level dynamics that afflict so many lives, and because the dynamics of intergenerational trauma remain unresolved, they persist.
It doesn't have to be that way. Cycles of adverse behaviour can be ended.
We can do this.
Thank you, Harry, for lending your voice to this story.
Kindest regards
Corneilius
"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."
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