The awful event we all experienced last nt produced: trauma.
Hamlin’s mom, who was at the game, & witnessed her son go down the way he did – she experienced trauma.
The players & coaches who stood in solidarity, hand-to-hand, regardless of what “team” they were on, to protect Hamlin’s privacy as he was worked on for 10 min on the field – they experienced trauma.
And the millions of us who watched on TV, as a 24 yr old, on top of the world, playing a child’s game, in prime time, just collapsed as doctors frantically rushed to work on him – we experienced trauma.
Trauma is what happens to us when we live thru, watch, or think of an event that overwhelms our ability to cope. On the second slide➡️, I shared pics of what trauma in real time, looks like.
You see the players & coaches wide-eyed, hands on their heads, leaning in to one another for support. It’s a shock to the system.
We all have seen gruesome injuries on an NFL field – from Joe Theisman to Dennis Byrd. None of us (unless you were around in 1971, the last time this happened), have seen that. We don’t EXPECT it.
Moments like that make us wonder “why”…. reflect on the fragility of life. They force us to consider our own mortality. They compel us to think abt this man’s family & loved ones.
It’s all too much at once. It stays in us & accumulates when we don’t address it. And…it’s why I picked, of all the msgs out there, this one from my good friend & member of our alliance, Aaron Taylor. Damar is in the care of doctors right now. From a physical health standpoint we have to put faith in them. But from a MH standpoint there is a LOT that must be done, to help us, all of us – from players to fans, who witnessed that last nt.
With all the purposeful divineness in this world, like the ridiculous tweet from Skip Bayless (3rd slide➡️), can we please come together arnd this event, & as the players did – hold hands & HELP one another? This was traumatic. We have to learn how to comfort each other & work thru trauma. IT exists. IT impacts us all cumulatively. Let’s work thru it, together.
Hug someone close to you. Sending healing vibes to Damar🙏.
