The complexity of life-altering events is often difficult to comprehend. This image of things I found during my training travels spoke to me this way. This seemingly random collection of nuts and bolts showed me how context shapes the unique needs of people in crisis.
All the items in the pile are fasteners and stability-related parts that came loose and fell off a mechanical something. In most cases, it probably didn’t result in anything catastrophic, although it is hard to say definitively. Similar to our lives, the owner of the machine probably heard a minor ping or felt a slight wobble. Some meticulous people might stop to check things out and identify the source. On very complex machines, say, like our own bodies and minds, it can be very difficult to troubleshoot without specialized training. My gut tells me most people who lost these pieces didn’t skip a beat and instead attributed the symptom to a stone or imperfection in the road itself.
Sometimes, though, enough cumulative, unnoticed hardware losses can eventually lead to a wheel falling off, a tie rod breaking, or any number of dangerous failures. For humans, it is even more complex. Even neuroscientists will admit they know very little about how our brains and consciousness actually work. This makes diagnostic exercises, even for trained professionals, a bit of a guessing game. One of the most disturbing cases of such highly educated people doing more harm than good was the practice of lobotomizing particularly difficult mental health cases. If you are not familiar with this procedure, I will let your favourite search engine explain it. *NOTE* Beware if you choose to go down that rabbit hole, though. It is not for the faint of heart.
So what’s the point, Trev? While WāōH is a fundraiser, one of the big intangible goals is to help the fortunate see that those in crisis (or heading in that direction) are most likely not the result of a single choice or event that has led them to where they are. Nor is it as simple as choosing a different path. Each person’s situation is unique and complex. And, one day, enough nuts and bolts may wiggle themselves loose from your life that you find yourself in their shoes.