'Sh*t happens': but not always 'for a reason'...

In the public arena this week, Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was questioned on TV about the appropriateness of his comment 'shit happens', whilst talking to Australian soldiers in Afghanistan about the death of a colleague. His response to being questioned about this, was half a minute's embarassing silence, even though his original comment seemed reasonable in context. His lack of response made him look flustered and unprofessional, not to mention lacking in leadership qualities.

Meanwhile at work, a colleague was traumatised by viewing a graphic image of a distressing event, which was inappropriately brought into her workplace. Her comment, 'was I meant to see this image for some reason?' got me thinking...

Undoubtedly, shit happens and clearly, we cannot always protect ourselves from experiencing trauma. Usually, we may feel pretty resiliant, and can often bounce back from upsetting events. Some of us routinely hear about trauma during the course of our work. Sometimes, however, there is a crack in our armour, and something random will affect us strongly, causing us to experience vicarious trauma. This is a real hazard in working as a therapist, or in a related role.

The effect seems to be culmulative - we cannot always predict which will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but when it does, we may feel shocked, upset, angry or fearful. We may lose confidence in our ability to continue doing this work. What I find hard to understand, is the response to traumatic events that I often hear, usually from women, namely that: 'everything happens for a reason'. I heard (most inappropriately) this after the Boxing Day Tsunami, for example...

Colour your Heart for Valentine's Day: Love Flood  

I have just read an article in the Weekend Australian magazine about gambling and randomness, which suggests that it is a human trait to find patterns where there are none. This seems to explain why there is a need to see random negative events as part of a Grand Plan.

I mentioned in my last post, that I was struggling with the issue of spirituality, and this may be part of the reason why. I cannot believe in the notion of 'a Plan'. In fact, I believe, (if there is a god), that god's secret is: 'there is no plan'. I believe some things happen for a reason, but only if the reason is based on science...

My drawing above is sort of related to this - S is in Mission Beach, North Queensland, doing more Community Recovery work, this time in the Cyclone Yasi affected area. He had booked a table at a great restaurant for Valentine's day - now sadly unusable! I am a bit sad about this, but hey, I'll cope. Its important work, as it enables people to get government assistance for rebuilding their cyclone damaged homes.

The Wall: I Love U

On the topic of Relationships: the subject of this image is how we can feel as if there is a defensive wall between us and others, but if we dig deep enough, we find out that we are still connected. Wow! I am starting to sound a bit New Age myself...

More later.