I just finished watching Regeneration (1997) and realizing that it is one of the many movies that make you think I thought i'd write some of my thoughts down briefly. this isn't a review and doesn't contain any answers just ideas.

life is war.

I was drawn to think about some ideas surrounding a line by one of the characters Sarah(played by Tanya Allen) she says to Billy Prior(Jonny Lee Miller) "this is just another kind of wound" in reference to his war induced emotional trauma. I have personally known people who where wounded in this way but never one wounded by war. I also have never known any who where expected to "see the front lines again" after emotional problems. Jonny Lee Miller cries after going thru hypnosis and experiencing the attack that caused him to break down but persists that in his logical mind it is a event of smaller proportion than he expected. he is, in the end, distraught to find that he will not be able to go back and prove himself. I find it an interesting idea that an event can be traumatic when it is not in fact the worst event you have experienced in your life. If something is repressed can it only be dealt with and resolved consciously or can it also be dealt with and resolved subconsciously? if someone has a irrationally traumatic event(an event that would by most standards be normal but is traumatic in some way to a particular person) which is repressed and causes them to change in some way not deemed strange by society is that person wounded or sick are they insane? do those standards change with the society? If I went to war I know I could probably expect atrocities to be a real part of my life. In that society the society of war atrocities are an everyday event and we congratulate those who make it through them we try to help them and honor them. Still many men and women go to war and do not experience anything other than harsh conditions. Life is the same way but we do not honor our wounded there is no purple heart for Susanna Kaysen. Then again insane people have historically been seen (during their lives) as extra people, surplus. Shure they are human and thus deserve life liberty exc. but would you rather that crazy bum you once saw die or the next Vincent Van Gogh? Ok that's a trick question (if your not sure how just read the page Van Gogh is linked to). Who is really fit to judge anything? I assume everyone somehow knows "real pain" but it's hard to tell sometimes I know I've been changed by pain I hope in a positive way still it's hard not to look down on people who seem to forget what real pain is and it's hard to always remember that someone probably looks down on me the same way. If you and I both really believe that a form of insanity caused by a trauma is like a wound why do we(as a society) treat so many wounded with such disrespect? Like I said just ideas no answers. all thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.