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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 25

The Buddha said that lovingkindness is the antidote to the streets of New York the Christmas after 9/11. He
fear, and this is something I repeated often in this year said he observed how parents changed the way they
as people coming to talk to me described themselves as shepherded their children through the crowds, holding
struggling with anger and fear. I want to do what I can them tightly to their sides and more closely when the
to soothe people and at the same time inspire them to parents faced a person who frightened them. As those
action, so that our actions can come more from a place children maneuvered through the world clutched by
of wisdom than hate. I’m very aware though, that no mom and dad, they absorb their trauma. This how
sooner would I advise that we should meet the powerful trauma ripples through the generations.
chaos and fear with powerful love than a trans person
or a person of color or, more commonly these days, I felt that within me watching the demonstrations in
a Jewish person, would write me to disagree. As one Charlottesville, and I expect that those who faced down
wrote, “Why should I listen politely to someone who that racing car in the street may transmit the terror
hates me, who does not believe I should exist?” they faced to their children and beyond. This is why
talking to one another best takes place at the very least
That response made me examine my approach, as did on the common ground that we each have the right to
the demonstration in Charlottesville this summer. The exist. Because that’s not always there, we work to keep
men who marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews power from those preaching hatred and division, and
will not replace us” and “blood and soil” touched a fear if we have power ourselves we choose to exercise it
deep in the marrow that connects me to my ancestors, differently.
the inter-generational transmission of trauma. Those
descended from survivors of genocide can feel that In a recent episode of Reveal, host Al Letson tested
trauma even if they cannot remember its origin. The the common ground. He was covering the antifa/Nazi
children of those who survived the recent murders in conflict outside the U.C. Berkeley campus. Letson, a
Sutherland, Texas could be affected by this, and their fit and muscular African-American man, walked with
children as well. his crew right into the center of crowd where he saw a
mob attacking a man, kicking and beating him. Letson
How does fear move across generations to reside in leapt in to save the man on the ground. Only later did he
the bodies of those who never experienced the original find out that the man he rescued was one of the Nazis.
trauma? In Lost in Transmission: Studies of Trauma He had saved the life of someone who did not believe
Across Generations, one essay described the point of Letson should exist.
view of a sidewalk Santa who was ringing his bell on