The Healing Places
My friend, Michael Brewer, bravely set out this last year to bring some closure to his service in a war zone over half a century ago. He chose to look the “tiger” in the eyes when he returned to Vietnam.
He went to see if there really was some healing to be gained by exposing himself again to a place that nearly took his life as a young Marine. Here is some of what he discovered:
“In December of 1967 I enlisted in the U.S. Marines, and not long after found myself in Vietnam as a lean, mean, killing machine with an intoxicating intrigue of going to an exotic country 7,000 miles away to stop the spread of Communism.
History had another plan though, and 56 years later I returned to the jungle of darkness and carnage in search of a lost innocence, and to possibly purge a life-long sadness, psychic numbness, and a general disconnect from normal life.
On my flight from California I had been thinking about a Buddhist saying, “The place is the healing.” Upon arriving at my Hanoi hotel, I took time to wind down and embrace some alone time.
Soon I was engulfed in a silence that surpassed understanding, and those words rang brightly in my mind. “The place” was surely triggering the healing. I could feel it, and never did I expect anything like it to happen so quickly.”Mike’s wonderful story of healing brought to mind a very good object lesson for us all.
There is a therapy technique known as exposure therapy, and it is simply facing up to, and confronting, the “place” that has distressed us in the past. Rather than avoiding it, move close to understand aspects of it that perhaps you misunderstood when the event was occurring.
By understanding the other side of things, you develop a space for the other healing component called forgiveness. It can be the ultimate salve for a festering wound.
Mike, along with other veterans, have returned to their war zones. Some out of curiosity, others seeking to regain something that was lost. Whatever the reason it’s worth the effort.
