Visions were Justified
Janet Kuypers 
3/5/16
Recently heard a therapist process 
the story of a man 
who had just survived a trauma. 
He explained to the therapist 
that he kept seeing himself 
back home and safe, 
and he would bounce back and forth 
between that vision 
and his real life trauma, 
where people restrained him. 
And the therapist explained 
to the man 
that this was perfectly natural; 
that during his recovery 
he latched on to what he knew, 
to recent events in his life, 
and that is what kept him sane 
when going through his ordeal. 
Now, I only explained my story 
to one person once, 
about how I coped 
with what I went though 
after being detained 
for weeks against my will. 
You see, I had recently 
visited a friend a few times 
before my trauma began, 
and while they had me restrained 
and I had no one to talk to, 
so I imagined the stranger 
who was in the room with me, 
I imagined this stranger was this friend, 
this friend that I had just recently seen, 
and I imagined talking with him 
so I didn’t feel so alone. 
I told this to one person. 
And they thought I was crazy. 
How irrational of me. 
This is what I get 
for telling people what I go through. 
Because looking back 
it know it was my way to stay sane. 
It didn’t hurt anyone, 
and it helped me heal. 
I knew what was right 
and what was wrong... 
And it’s nice to hear 
a therapist 
somewhere say 
that what I did was natural. 
It was what I needed to do. 
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