• PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    29 days ago

    It’s funny (or ‘funny’) because people can have immensely different reactions. I remember a story of a WW2 GI who came home to the US wondering if he was just forever numb to the things he saw fighting in Europe. Very shortly after he came home, a few months, I think, he coincidentally was witness to a rather bloody car-crash (not him or anyone he knew), and was sick on the spot - later noting that, in a strange way, it was relieving - because when he was fighting in the war, a sight like that wouldn’t have made him give a second glance. Getting sick at the sight of gore was, in a way, a confirmation that he hadn’t lost that piece of his humanity forever.

    People can come away scarred, but people can also adjust with astounding speed.