Dec. 31, 2004 - 12:50 PST

THE WONDERING JEW

SOME SCARS DON�T SHOW

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA -- �Flesh wounds usually leave a scar, I think that sometimes physic scars are deeper and often buried and not obvious to the eye. An article by Mark Magnier of the Los Angeles Times in Eugene today�s Register-Guard discusses that which is the danger to those just affected by earthquake and tsunami. In part: �It was a beautiful Sunday morning, with almost no wind, when a crowded train called the Queen of the Sea pulled out of Colombo Station on schedule at 7:40 and headed down the coast. � �Rumesh Priyankara was excited about his day in the country with his grandmother. A little more than an hour into the trip, however, the 14-year old�s idyll ended. Now he can�t stop remembering the other passenger�s screams that the sea was coming. The massive tsunami that knocked over the train�s coaches like toys. The watery grave that swallowed his grandmother and 800 other people on board the train.� �The physical signs of Sundays deadly tsunami are everywhere here. Less visible but potentially longer lasting, are the mental wounds. And mental health experts say unique characteristics of the catastrophe are compounding the psychological recovery process.� �We�re seeing a lot of very stressed people in hospitals, given all they�ve suffered, including many in delirium,� said Hemamali Perera, senior lecturer in psychological medicine with the Medical Faculty of Colombo, �We�re seeing deep grief, distress, people unable to talk, although it�s way to early to see the full impact.� �Aid workers, civic groups and mental health experts say these costs will be borne over years, even decades.� �The difficulties Sri Lankans face in tying to recover mentally started surfacing almost as soon as the water receded. Jerome Kerr-Jarrett, a 25-year old British tourist who was swept into the sea from is cabana, headed for the hills bleeding and exhausted after narrowly escaping death. Once at a safe elevation, he tried to get hundreds of people gathered to start thinking about food, shelter and basic survival, he said. For hours and in some cases days, however, many people just sat dazed. �We tried to get them moving, but it was impossible to get through to people.� Kerr-Jarrett said. �Most had just shut down.� �In fact both sets of behaviors are coping mechanisms, experts say. Although Kerr-Jarrett�s quick response may have been a lifesaver, throwing yourself into a task immediately after being traumatized is a way of dealing with the shock and pain of the experience, By staying busy, you�re delaying thinking about what you�ve been through until a time when you can better process it.� �The 300 workers of the Sri Lankan Red Cross are seeing earl signs of trauma that, if not treated, can turn into full blown post-traumatic stress disorder. The selective nature of this tragedy, with coastal communities devastated but the capital and inland areas unscathed, also may prolong the adjustment process.� �People who feel that others are enjoying a better life while they�ve had everything washed away lose hope and no longer know how to life in this world,� said Rangith Mudalige, the organization�s director-general. �There�s no cure really. The only way is to assist them with the basics, to hopefully ease them back toward a normal life.� �Another common response to trauma is to ascribe blame, and here tradition may also play a role, Hettige (a sociology professor at the University of Colombo) added. News outlets have diagrammed the earthquake, detailing how the tsunami was generated and why Sri Lanka was caught unawares. But a traditional belief holds that such misfortune signals God�s fury with the country and its leaders.� +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A few thoughts and opinions of mine. I think that there are still people in Florida visited by Hurricane Andrew who have undergone such traumas, as well as in other parts of the world where tragedy inserted itself into calm, serene, everyday existence. I can in a very small way walk a short distance in their shoes. Our auto accident in Wyoming is a case in point. I now know that there was a short period of my unconsciousness. With a head and back in extreme pain, I looked over expecting to see Heather�s headless body. Instead I saw a vacant seat. Passers by had helped her from the car. Emergency personnel in trying to help my situation would only answer my questions about Heather with, �She�s all right, she is being checked out in the ambulance.� Answers which didn�t satisfy me a bit. I became insistent and finally they had Heather call over to me that she was okay. Still in a surreal world, one of pain and worry I finally saw Heather when in hospital at Rock Springs. Somewhat out of my mind it seems that I was insistent that my ditty back be retrieved from the wreckage. Reason being that all my medications were in it. Guess I made quite an ass of myself over that. There I was, in a country that had not suffered a natural disaster, essentially helpless, in heavy pain. Yet in mental trauma even so. Wondering if I would be a paraplegic, if ever my pain would be relieved, if I would ever be able to function as a human again. The flight to Denver was made bearable to me by the presence of Heather near me in the aircraft and the constant attention of the nurse. Many of my fears were not truly allayed for months and months. Some of which became unpleasant realities, some I waded through successfully, some it took hard work to surmount finally. But, my home had not been destroyed, my town had not suffered an earthquake or flood, I might say everything was essentially okay, except me. Yet, to this day I have periodic, screaming nightmares bringing me upright in bed, having once again went through the phantasmagoria of my world upset. Just trying to put myself mentally in that condition into the middle of a natural catastrophe and realizing that hospital care would not be nearly as available as it was to me then, puts my mind off track into a world of hopelessness. In the article it mentions something said by Rangith Mudalige, �There�s no cure, really. The only way is to assist them with the basics, to hopefully ease them back toward a normal life.� No cure - - - People who live in low lying lands, much as I once did in Oldsmar, Florida where digging a few feet down would reach water and the bay less than a block away, will to my mind never experience a normal life again. First the 9.0 earthquake -- then the land denuded, bare with scraps of vegetation, bits and pieces of buildings, much of which won�t really change in their lifetimes. Any means of earning a living gone in essence and of course reality. I guess I could say that I can reach that state academically in a very small way only enough to be able to imagine how it is in reality. Although my scars are small in comparison to those now building in people in that part of the quake/tsunami world I think it is possible for me to feel that jSome Scars Don�t Show. . . . . .

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