Impact of Traumatic Events on Identity

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A school shooter. Bombs dropped on cities. People trapped in a camp and being beaten. On the news, someone’s shot dead. Hope is taken away. Tragedy devours everyone. Traumatic events can happen to anyone. You can never be prepared for something bad to happen to you and when something bad does happen, it may begin to play a part in your identity. The “Day of Infamy” speech given by FDR, “The Butterfly” by Pavel Friedman, and “Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Prayer Service Address” given by President Bill Clinton give examples of how someone’s identity can be impacted by traumatic events. A traumatic experience can cause someone's identity to change by making them more miserable and paranoid or could change someone in a positive way. A traumatic experience is capable of causing communities to join together and can force people to become fearful of what is happening around them. In President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech, he stated “I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.” When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th of 1941, the nation was devastated. Over 2,000 people were killed that day. Hearts became filled with fear. People would realize that an attack like that could have happened anywhere else in the United States. They would realize they could have been one of the people who died that day. That …show more content…

No matter how the trauma is caused for someone, it will definitely impact their identity. Their identity can be impacted in an extremely large way or the trauma may cause a small change in identity. Traumatic experience can cause people to become fearful and join together as a community, to become constantly afraid or unhappy with their life, or to lose a chunk of their identity and constantly feel

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