Recently, my wife and I enjoyed hiking at Starved Rock State Park on the Illinois River. The paths are strenuous and challenging, but the sights are beautiful and rewarding. But from what I’ve heard, every year people fall to their deaths from the high bluffs onto the merciless rocks of the deep canyons.
I dare say, the loved ones of those that died hiking this perilous terrain are no longer enjoying the natural wonders of this park. Trauma has a way of overriding all other feelings.
So, shouldn’t there be a place for those painful feelings to be used productively? Perhaps to advocate for more railings to be installed in strategic locations, or to make a brief video recording of their story that plays on a loop to all those who are heading out on the trails. Pain is meant to communicate; first to ourselves, then to others. If it is silenced, the valuable lessons it has taught will not be heard by those who are heading down that same perilous path.
It is my hope that I can reflect on the traumatic losses I have witnessed and experienced and by God’s grace and Spirit be redirected into warning others of the very real perils that are inherent on the paths I have already traveled.