…and there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm

I used to read the Revelation and wonder what would have to happen to cause military forces to revert to the use of horses in battle. Of course that would only be a question to ponder for those who interpret that book literally. But in that light, I find there are some possible drivers that would move people functionally backward. I found it particularly interesting that Dr. Katu specifically stated, “…we would be thrown a hundred years back into the past.” Maybe this isn’t the year for me to invest in an iPad.

you don’t look like anyone i know

Amazon.com : Watch an Author Video.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard Heather Sellers interviewed on NPR regarding face blindness, and her memoir You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know. The interview revealed little of Heather’s personal background, but my immediate response was, “Face blindness sounds like something that could be psychosomatically induced by trauma. I need to read her story.”

Well, I just finished reading it, and there is no evidence verifying psychological or emotional trauma can induce face blindness. But…  she definitely had more than her share.

The most helpful things for me in Heather’s book related to her skill in communicating her own thoughts and feelings. She had incredible self doubt when evaluating her family experiences as a child. And as an adult, her mental battles and resistance to breaking free of the prison her disability had placed her in were very telling. She resists, and resists going public with her challenges. When she finally shares her struggle with friends and co-workers in a mass email, she discovers she may not be the only one in her circle with this challenge. And she quickly becomes a “face blindness evangelist,” pressing others to go public, too. You feel the burden being freed from her shoulders once she shines the light in her dark corner.

I saw a lot of myself in her distorted self-assessments, and mental narratives-to-self, projecting what she believed other people to be thinking – about her, about her parents as she was growing up.

There are some unanswered questions. But books can never give you the entire story. I am amazed Heather is so able to love her parents, in spite of her experiences. That, in itself, is very humbling.