During my first two weeks on a college campus, I've heard a refreshing amount of emphasis put on consent. Before we even started the semester, we were put through informative courses on alcohol as a drug and how it hinders consent, pronoun usage, sexual assault, and safe spaces. All of this might sound fantastic in theory to a writer who comes from a small town without even so much as a properly stocked library section on these things.
But this is really only scraping the surface.
This article is, in part, inspired by a class I attended. I'm part of a social justice LLC, so you can imagine that our class discussions are the type that bring screaming Facebook warriors out of the woodwork, declaring that political correctness is ruining our society. Personally, I think people being so vehemently against respecting other people is what's ruining our society, but what do I know?
Our class was discussing many aspects of safe spaces. The conversation soon switched to trauma. In my group's corner of the room, there was civil, educated discussion with definitions that respected individuals. And then I heard it — the boy next to me who angrily muttered under his breath, "Why is everyone so hung up on trauma?"
This is an educational letter to those who see themselves, past or present, in that boy.
Everyone is so hung up on trauma for a reason that directly links with the definition. Trauma is an umbrella term for events that leave lasting effects on your mental, emotional or physical health. The boy who spoke came from a cushioned position of never having to experience trauma, and when his words changed to outright mocking of survivors of several things, it was as if he'd stepped into a den of starving lions. Many verbally ripped him apart, and I can't blame them. It is hard to remember that the responsible "civic duty" thing to do is to educate rather than slander when something horrifying that has happened to them is being trivialized.
People whose brains are altered by trauma are much more likely to abuse tobacco and alcohol. They are 15 times more likely to commit suicide, four times more likely to develop alcoholism, and three times more likely to need antidepressants. They are more likely to doubt their worth when it comes to any type of relationship, and their moods more frequently plummet to dangerous levels of negativity.
And for you, the boy who has admitted to never experiencing an event that couldn't objectively be summed up as "not that bad," to invalidate others' experiences just because their reactions to trauma are more extreme than your own? How dare you.
It is very hard for people who have not experienced something, be it something as mundane as stubbing their toe or as extreme as mental illness and assault, to imagine it. There are so many different experiences and perspectives on trauma, because it is such a personal event, that you could interview a hundred different trauma survivors and still not grasp 100% of the issue.
So for you to stand there and make a statement like a thorn in the side of those who didn't ask to hear your vitriol, to think you have that much power to water someone's life down to whether or not it pleases you? Who gave you the authority?
To further go on and explain that you consider triggers a "joke," use circular logic to explain that your life experiences have led you to laugh at it and completely disregard that your life does not trump others...this is a direct reflection of why colleges are introducing discussion on safe spaces.
Whether you're someone who wraps yourself in them like a well-loved blanket or someone whose blood boils just at the phrase and asks yourself when the younger generation became so entitled, no one can deny that they have no knowledge of someone else's experiences down to a T. It's impossible to know such things unless you're a mind reader; even then, there's a difference between thoughts and the eternal conflicts that a trauma survivor goes through every day.
The next time you begin to dismiss a safe space as one thing or the other and boil it down to only one aspect of community expression, stop and think. Could it foster some useful discussion and form connections with your fellow peers?
Or are you the one that's hung up on a world view?
