tldr: I'm in a recovery program for trauma and addiction, and we don't know when we'll be able to leave because of the Highland Park, Illinois 4th of July parade. How is anyone supposed to live in this country?
This whole country is traumatized, and here I am sitting in my third month of an intensive outpatient program (on unpaid leave from work) trying to figure out how to function again – therapy, skills building, medication, community, 12 step programs. I've been falling down the tunnel of agoraphobia since witnessing a mass shooting in the aughts (lol I'm not even in treatment because of that). There are kids in this room who have experienced active shooting drills their whole life. There's a teacher here who has had 10 kids in their charter school die from gun violence this year. Multiple people's family members were in highland park today.
We all feel so privileged to be in treatment, but Jesus Christ – how can anyone expect to be well or functional, LET ALONE SHOW UP TO WORK in a country when in any given room half the people have witness traumatizing events that directly involve gun violence.
Happy freedom day, I guess.