DL Opinion columns

Resilience in the face of violence – by Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Gaining and maintaining resilience is a growing survival mechanism in today’s scary world. Too many folks in America, and beyond, are being shaped to become Violent, Vengeful, Vicious and Vindictive. I call this the 4 Vs and we’re all experiencing the ripple effects of them. A colleague recently asked, “How can we fix this?” My eyes went super wide with his expectation that I’d know the answer. 

Undeterred by my silence, he asked another question hoping that it would help me get started: “Is resilience innate or learned?” Good question and my answer to both was “Yes!” Now I was off and running. We’re all born resilient. That’s why we pick ourselves up and keep trying as we stumble through childhood. And we all learn. A favorite lesson of mine: leaning too far over a dock to check out the fish swimming below means falling into the ocean head first.

Developing the positive elements of resilience is a life-long learning journey. We gain in empathy, kindness, forgiveness, and respect over time. But when fear, depression and rage grow within us, we prioritize self-survival over everything else. Some may fight back, others may try to escape and seek cover. For them, denial is a common response and the virtues irrelevant. Acknowledging that these responses are due to terror, not meanness, helps us understand these people. Listening will give us more skills to deal with them, and ourselves. We’ve all had to deal with fear and know that when others listen to us with kindness and gentleness, we can move on from the 4 V’s. That’s how resilience builds. 

I thought that I’d answered my colleague’s questions well and was proud of myself. But then I got a text message from my daughter working in a hospital that ICE was surrounding. “People are just disappearing. There’s a lot of crying!” Deeply concerned, I stopped texting and called her on the phone, asking if the situation was affecting her personally. “Patients are refusing to come to our hospital or their doctors’ offices. I’m trying to visit them at their homes to make sure they’re OK, but they’re too terrified to even see me.”

That’s when she told me that she was busy putting locks on all the hospital doors to help patients feel safe from ICE. She hoped that would help, but it was iffy since none of the doctors wanted to come to the hospital either. No one wanted to work in person.

Feeling the fear through the phone, I was suddenly back at Harvard decades ago as law enforcement tried to stop a student protest against the Vietnam War. Walking from the classroom into Harvard Yard, my friend and I were caught up in hundreds of students running in all directions, trying to escape the police viciously coming after them.  

Boom! Tear gas canisters went off. The air turned into green clouds and my fragile lungs collapsed. My friend dragged me off to the infirmary in time to save my life. So grateful! But police surrounded the infirmary so that no patients could leave. 

My daughter was horrified! I was relieved to share how my mom drove up from New York to smuggle me out of the infirmary. She drove us back home where I coughed myself into recovery. Surprising myself, I actually had the courage to return to Harvard and go back to class. 

That’s how we develop resilience! Persevere through the pain! Be strong, courageous, and determined. And grateful…teach all that to colleagues, friends and upcoming generations.

Editor-in-Chief
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