For most of us in the West, a public expression of pain or confusion is a problem for the listeners or the experts to solve, as if the hurt has an automatic request in it to have the hurting end. I’ve never been persuaded by this, though. You learn from working in the helping trades that hurt has to find its words as well as its voice. Hurt has to speak its name and find a language that does justice to what has been seen and endured. People can hurt well, meaning that they can hurt toward a purpose. They can hurt for some reason or merit beyond how it is to hurt and be hurt. Saying more when
...more
