Community is the anti-trauma. Children who grow up in trauma are wired for trauma -- it is the lens through which they see the world -- unless that trauma is disrupted by a love of peace. That peace comes from quiet moments reading, time in nature, time when there is no fear or expectation. It takes a lot for a parent with high ACEs to learn how to calm the mind and body enough to provide that calm space for children.
ACEs are crafty. Their impact pops up across the lifespan, and for women, menopause is a time when ACEs can kill. I know because I've lost -- to sudden heart attacks and inflammatory diseases -- many contemporaries in recovery from addiction and abuse. The day obituaries start including ACEs scores, at the behest of the wise deceased, I believe we'll make quantum leaps in preventing trauma. ACEs in obituaries would be incredibly effective in the South, where pride runs deep but the pain of ethnohistoric trauma, structural racism, and multi-generational oppression, run far deeper. I believe ACEs and Resilience sciences are being used to help heal the incredible divides we see today. How do we accelerate closing the gaps?
Just one generation that grows up with stable housing, enough to eat, equity in education, and quality medical care -- just one generation invested in in that way -- would turn this nation around. Right now, today, though, just one truly safe and caring adult can make all the difference in the life of a child.
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