The Body Never Forgets
Morf Morford
©
Copyright 2024 by Morf Morford
|
Image by Marc Pascual from Pixabay |
Ever
notice how toddlers fall and get back up right away?
When
we are learning to walk, falling and tumbling over is part of the
learning process. and for little ones, falling doesn’t get in
the way of learning.
In
the vast majority of cases, the injuries are minimal to non-existent
and the mastery of the skill, whether it be running, riding a bicycle
or the ultimate basic skill of balance and walking is resumed.
But
the body never forgets.
If
the experience is harsh or embarrassing or memorable enough, the body
– or the mind – will never forget.
And
of course, a bump or a bruise will be expected – and, for most
of us, (especially boys) near infinite.
But
those larger, more severe encounters – with forces of nature
(like gravity) or certain creatures or dynamics (like loud noises or
heights) will, or at least may, leave a lasting impact.
As
we reach certain age points, our bodies remind us of what our
developing bodies (and minds) encountered along the way to adulthood.
Many
years ago, I worked with a man who had a career helping military
veterans. He told me that soldiers that had encountered extreme
combat died at age 68.
The
body, he told me, was strong enough to withstand or cope with the
trauma of near-total physical threat only for so long – and
statistically, the median age of death of combat-experienced soldiers
was 68.
My
own father, a veteran of World War II, having been at the invasion of
Normandy on D-Day and at the key battle called “The battle of
the bulge” died just a few months before his 68th
birthday.
More
specific bodily assault – whether abuse or injuries –
leave their own perpetual impacts.
The
human body, it seems, can only absorb so much fear, terror and
trauma.
In
a very real, almost measurable sense, it is a miracle many of us
survive.
Those
“injuries” serious or not, teach us, correctly or not,
how the world works.
Our
bodies and minds compensate or react – not always appropriately
– when we encounter similar (or relatively similar)
experiences.
Consider
fear of heights, or dogs, or the dark, or a thousand other things
that may paralyze us. Somewhere our minds and physical bodies hold a
tangible, even literal muscle memory, of the encounter.
Being
a human (or even an animal, as any owner of a puppy or kitten knows
all too well) is a bumpy experience – one dense with falls and
collisions of all kinds– and rejection, and sometimes outright
neglect or abuse.
And
yes, for every one of us, the body never forgets.
This
corporeal memory is not always negative of course.
Hazard
is not necessarily accompanied by a legacy of shame or pain.
Sometimes
the body learns the opposite lesson.
Saved
by a Black-berry bush
In
my conscious memory, I had completely forgotten an experience I had
as a young adult.
I
was on a hike on a low altitude hillside, one of those hills common
in the Pacific Northwest, on a trail that had been carved against the
side of a steep cliff. In other words, it was a pathway with a sheer
cliff in both directions – up and down.
It
was several hundred feet both ways (up and down) and a fall would
have been near-certain death.
And,
thanks to a loose rock or a misstep, I did fall. About ten feet.
I
was caught by a blackberry bush that had clung to the side of the
cliff.
Blackberry
bushes are not native, in fact they are extremely invasive and grow
where almost nothing else will – like cliffsides.
And
I will be forever thankful for that particular blackberry bush.
Blackberries,
as you may know, are covered in thorns. They scraped me but held me
securely.
I
was tangled in the brambles and thorns, hanging upside down, part
way down about a 90-degree grade. I was suspended an arm’s
length above the ground with my feet above me.
The
only way out was down. I wasn’t hurt, but pulling myself free
from the thorns with nothing to push against was impossible, and
pulling out of them only meant submitting myself to the full force of
gravity – and the inevitable drop.
My
hiking companion caught up to me, and when he (eventually) stopped
laughing, reached down and pulled me up.
Without
him, I would still be hanging there...
In
some situations, friends and unexpected helpers, like blackberry
brambles, can be life savers.
And
yes, even in those kinds of situations, the body never forgets.
The
10-90 rule
There’s
an old saying that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we
respond to it.
In
other words, 90% of our energy/reactions/emotions (and those that
emanate from others) that we encounter/embrace/flounder in are
free-floating, largely-arbitrary, subjective reactions – and
they are of our own creation.
For
the reaction to be greater than the event that initiated it is
strange indeed. There is absolutely no necessary proportionality to
how we respond to life’s assaults and injuries. Some, you may
have noticed, grossly overreact and make noise, drama and hysteria
over the barest slight.
Others
carry major injuries as the dues one pays to earthly existence.
I
attempt to make my responses to life’s insults as minimal as
possible, with the intent to make the difficult situation, at
minimum, not worse.
Others
in my life seem to search for bumps and bruises to use as the petri
dish for personal rants, raves, tirades and public pouting.
And,
in what could only be a case of mass infantilization, public and
political figures use such strategies to rouse their supporters to
acts of resentment and revenge far beyond any actual offense or act.
Or threat.
Rage,
self-pity and a sense of being a perpetual victim must be
invigorating – and bonding – and addictive.
Who
needs personal pain or trauma when “enemies” and threats
can be manufactured and multiplied by social media and ever-louder
and more vociferous voices?
Crowds
seem to gather around these spectacles – to participate or just
to watch.
Human
nature in what could be called a perpetual red-zone, heightened state
of rage and arousal is perpetually entertaining – but has
certainly led, if not driven, a variety of empires to untimely,
unnecessary and (almost always) violent conclusions.
But
these public tantrums and victim-fests in the name of politics –
or religion -seem to be effective. And popular.
They
make good sound bites. And the emotional bonding at these rallies
must be profound and memorable.
But
the body, whether physical or social, never forgets.
An
affront or wound is embedded in the body politic as it is in the
individual body. And like a sliver under one’s skin, left
unchecked it becomes infected and even more toxic and inflammatory.
Physically
or socially, we may never recognize these wounds consciously, but
they never go away.
The
real or imagined (or idealized) intended grandeur and conquest (and
those who stood in the way) are, to some degree, never fully
forgotten.
The
near-gravitational pull to reclaim a nation’s one-time (actual
or romanticized) “greatness” seems to be irresistible to
some.
Centuries,
even millennia may pass, but the ever-elusive search for a restored
kingdom or empire may never lose its appeal.
In
other words, if you want to sell a product, or get yourself elected
(which are kind of the same thing in terms of marketing strategies in
our era) appeal to lost honor, wounded pride and a divinely framed
destiny – and of course, a roster of easily identified
“enemies” to demonize as the villains who keep us from
fulfilling our divinely ordained destiny.
After
all, the body, political or individual, never forgets.
(Unless
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type
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author's name
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we
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